Today I Learned: The War with No Guns Between China and the World

In recent months, China and India have skirmished with casualties on both sides. Yes, I mean deaths and serious injuries, deep in the Himalayas. But because both sides have abided by 1966 treaties that prohibited firearms near the border, the skirmishes were fought with sticks. 

The border is between China and Indian-Administered Kashmir. And the conflict had been ongoing for months. A clash back in June 2020 is believed to have left over 20 Indian soldiers DEAD. China does not release its casualty figures until recently. 

Also keep in mind that China has nearly complete control over Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and WeChat and even accounts of foreign diplomats and heads of state, including Indian Prime Minister Modi, can and had been censored before. Modi's statement regarding the border conflict back in 2020 was wiped from WeChat. Similarly, the British Embassy in China's rebuttal of the Chinese "explanation" of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong was wiped out as well. 

In contrast, Chinese diplomatic officials serving in the West are known to spread disinformation about ANYTHING that could potentially make China look bad, from the border skirmish with India to suppression of protest in Hong Kong, to suppression of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. One official spokesperson for foreign affairs went as far as claiming on Twitter that COVID was really an American bio-war experiment. They are often jokingly called "Wolf Warriors", after the Chinese military adventure movie series. 

So basically, China can say WHATEVER IT WANTS to its own citizens, and suppress anyone who dares to contradict them, even foreign leaders and diplomats. A Chinese Netizen was apparently banned by Weibo for a year then arrested by police for "insulting heroes", by merely questioning the number of Chinese casualties in the border conflict (banned 2/20, arrested 2/21 Chinese time). And an app, called "Clubhouse" was banned after briefly enjoyed a surge of popularity as a chat platform in China to discuss such issues. And nobody can do anything about it. 

It's the war against truth as you know it. If it's inconvenient for China, it ain't true (to China). 

It's a war of information. And we are playing by THEIR rules.