Weibo Shows Voices in China Contradicting Beijing’s Support of Hamas

Dissenting voices that contradict the Chinese communist regime’s stance on the Israel–Hamas war are appearing on China’s Weibo social media platform. This follows the Israeli Embassy in China expressing its disappointment at the regime’s statements concerning the Hamas terrorist group’s assault on southern Israel.

China analysts have suggested that this may be indicative of internal disagreements within the regime, with some individuals or factions deliberately allowing different opinions to surface on Chinese social media.

During a meeting with the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrel in Beijing on Oct. 13, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi claimed the Hamas terrorist attacks originated from historical injustice suffered by Palestinians, which he said had not yet been corrected.

In the Israeli embassy’s subsequent Weibo social media post on Oct. 14 , the Deputy Director for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Rafi Harpaz, expressed Israel’s “deepest disappointment” over the regime’s response to the Hamas attack last weekend.

Mr. Harpaz stressed that the messages from China have “no clear and unambiguous condemnation of the terrible attack and heinous massacre committed by the terrorist organization Hamas against innocent civilians and the abduction of dozens of them to Gaza.”

China’s Dissenting Voices

The comments from Chinese internet users under the Israeli embassy’s Weibo post are predominantly in support of Israel and in opposition to terrorist acts. “Chinese people with a moral compass and a sense of justice would opt to join forces with you in the fight against the Hamas terrorist organization,” one reads.

“I stand with Israel and condemn the terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians! They do not speak for me!” reads another.

“I, as an individual, support Israel in safeguarding its citizens from terrorism,” a further comment reads. “There will be no mercy shown to terrorists who harm innocent people indiscriminately.” Another Weibo user wrote “They do not speak for me! Go, Israel!” while a further Chinese social media user urged others to “Stand with Israel! Such inhumane entities are a shame to the Chinese nation.”

Previously, comments from Chinese Communist Party activists had flooded the Weibo comments section of the Israeli Embassy in China, criticizing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. This resulted in a brief suspension of the Israeli embassy’s official social media account in China last week.

Pro-Israel Comments Emerge

Feng Chongyi, Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia interpreted the phenomenon of pro-Israel comments gradually emerging as an outcome of online censorship.

“There has consistently been a discrepancy between internal opinions and the official positions,” he said.

“Disagreements exist within the propaganda and surveillance departments, there are internal divisions within the government, and certain individuals intentionally allow dissenting voices to emerge,” Mr. Feng told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.

Tang Ming (pseudonym), a Shanghai-based internet writer, told The Epoch Times, “There is no doubt that Hamas is a terrorist organization.”

Mr. Tang believes the Chinese Communist Party is hoping for the eruption of a global conflict, which will provide an “opportunity to bring down Taiwan. It’s quite apparent, and we all recognize it.”

Ming Shen (pseudonym), a netizen from Guangxi Province in southern China, conveyed his deep abhorrence for Hamas’s assaults on innocent Israeli civilians.

He said he believed that Hamas could fight against the Israeli army, but that launching terrorist attacks on innocent civilians is a rogue act. “They have trampled on the basis of humanity,” said Mr. Ming.

Haizhong Ning and Luo Ya contributed to this report.