A Chinese public relations firm used over 70 fake news websites to promote pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) content to influence American political debate and likely organized protests in Washington D.C. last year, according to a report published on Monday by cybersecurity researchers Mandiant.
Haixun – a firm whose clientele includes the Chinese police force and CCP-aligned government agencies – claimed to have been publishing “independent” content but was actually disseminating information “strategically aligned with the political interests of the People’s Republic of China.”
It is highly probable that the company organized and promoted two protests in Washington, D.C.: the first against the US government’s ban on goods produced in China’s Xinjiang region, where the Uyghurs face systemic oppression as a religious minority. The second was against the 2022 International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF).
The protests witnessed people carrying placards and shouting slogans about racial discrimination and abortion restrictions in the US and were subsequently uploaded to social media. Both protests were “intended to sow discord in US society,” states senior Mandiant analyst Ryan Serabian.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., risibly told CNN in response: “China has always adhered to non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs.”
