Before US President Donald Trump's return to the United Nations, an unfounded claim that the General Assembly voted to order the United States to close all its overseas military bases circulated widely across Chinese social media. While Washington has closed or downsized some sites in recent years, AFP could find no record of such a UN action, which would not be legally binding.
"UN vote shocks the world!" reads a simplified Chinese caption on a RedNote post shared September 2, 2025. "This is the first time since the UN's founding that a resolution has been overwhelmingly passed targeting the military deployment of a single country."
The post shares a video featuring various shots of UN meetings, accompanied by Mandarin narration that claims the General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the United States shut all of its overseas military bases and withdraw troops immediately.
It goes on to claim 141 member states voted in favour, five voted against and 35 abstained.
The claim spread elsewhere on RedNote, Douyin and Facebook around the time of a Chinese military parade on September 3 (archived link).
The procession in Beijing featuring massed troops and heavy weapons sparked comparisons between the Chinese and US militaries on social media (archive here and here). Some Chinese netizens pointed out that the United States has numerous bases abroad, while China has just one (archive here, here and here).
The posts also spread before Trump's return to the United Nations...
Amid the row over ‘cough syrup deaths’, the Press Information Bureau (PIB)'s fact-check arm on Monday, busted a video claiming that Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide component in cough syrups has been...