In a major revelation, an Australia-based defence and strategic policy think tank revealed that China has been running a coordinated disinformation campaign in the Solomon Islands, suggesting the US, Canberra and Taiwan were responsible for the riots in Honiara. According to a new analysis by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), the Chinese government and its diplomats intensified efforts to criticise Western countries ever since violent riots erupted on the island last year. The study collected the data over 18 months and found China attempted to tailor public opinion against Australia and the US on the island but did not get enough success and received limited traction online.
In the timeframe, Beijing state media organisations published more than 65 articles on the island nation wherein more than 70% aimed at tarnishing the image and undermining the relationship. The analysis found the articles were written intentionally keeping the positive sides of China concerning the island. However, the Chinese efforts did not garner much attention and were mainly shared on social media pages including Facebook.
China uses Facebook to launch disinformation campaign
According to Blake Johnson, the report’s main author, the Chinese government published an article nearly every second day and added only a handful of those were shared on Pacific Island Facebook group. Also, he said the social media posts were receiving very little engagement, and the comments were mostly negative towards Beijing. The author said that the Chinese government used their effort in publishing press releases and other opinion pieces in the media outlets of the Solomon Islands. The analysis found the attempt found little success in altering public opinion and said a rise in anti-West sentiment was witnessed for some time.
Positive comments about China jump significantly
According to the study, before China’s disinformation campaign, three in four Facebook comments on the subject were critical of China, but that figure dropped down significantly to 57% over the following weeks. The ASPI report positive comments about Beijing jumped sharply, from just 8 per cent of the total to 41 per cent during the period. “It’s not somehow unique or wrong that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging with media in the Solomon Islands. If anything, I think the US and Australian diplomats should be engaging with the media at a similar level,” ABC News quoted Johnson as saying. “The difference is the fact that, at times, they’re engaging the media to spread clearly false narratives that have a clear objective that is damaging to Australia,” he added.