The anti-American voices on Chinese internet have recently become more subdued, and the reason is that the US embassies and consulates in China have imposed strict scrutiny on anti-American speech. Moreover, for some people in China, being an “anti-US crusader” is just on the surface, while actually seeking a life in the US is their reality.
Ming Pao reported on Monday that Liu Yadong, professor at Nankai University’s School of Journalism and Communication and former Editor-in-Chief of Science and Technology Daily, recently noticed that the anti-American tone online in mainland China has visibly softened: the extreme anti-US harsh words have greatly decreased, and the atmosphere of hostility has faded significantly.
It turns out that over the past two years, the US embassies and consulates in China have upgraded their visa review process to an “internet archaeology” model; whatever has been posted on Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu in the past five years is fully traceable, and any anti-American comments may face administrative review, or even long-term visa denial.
The report states that “quite a few people were suddenly thrown into panic mode”, scrambling to delete posts or lock profiles overnight in an attempt to destroy evidence, but the US’s internet tracing technology had already closed off this escape route.”
Citing Liu Yadong, the report notes that although there is controversy that this US approach infringes upon personal privacy, every sovereign nation has the right to independently set its entry requirements, and to screen the backgrounds of entrants and search for security risks. Leaving aside the US’s double standards, the most interesting part of this incident is that a large group of online “anti-US crusaders” have found themselves tripped up.
According to the report, there are quite a few “anti-Americanism is work, going to America is life” cases in China, of which the most typical is the leftist online “big V” (opinion leader) Sima Nan, “adept at performance, stirring up populism, always speaking patriotically and cursing the American imperialists”, who repeatedly criticized the private sector, but was later exposed for owning multiple properties in the US.
Last year, Chinese authorities confirmed that Sima Nan had evaded over 5 million yuan (about 3.03 million ringgit) in taxes, further proving that he “profited off patriotism”—“all principles on his lips, but all business at heart.”
Another Chinese “anti-US crusader” and “Wumao Party Chair” Ran Xiang admitted a few years ago that she took her child to the US for schooling, and even praised the excellence of the American education system; even more surprising, she married the Australian “public intellectual” Yang Hengjun—who was later sentenced to death with reprieve on espionage charges in Beijing.
Liu Yadong believes that although this move by the US is a little rough and does not count as a particularly clever governance tactic, it has nonetheless, by accident, hit the soft spot of this group of opportunists.