More than 24 hours after five Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide attack on Pakistan’s Karakorum Highway, there is nothing in China’s state-run media to even suggest such an attack took place. This even though China’s embassy in Islamabad issued a strong statement demanding a “thorough investigation into the attack, severely punish the perpetrators and take practical and effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens.”
Despite the silence of the state media, news of the attack had filtered through China’s bamboo curtain, with social media users demanding answers.
“Why is the Chinese Domestic Media not reporting anything about the Pakistan suicide attack on Chinese Nationals” was one of the comments on Weibo (China’s X/twitter equivalent) this morning by a netizen, followed by many others questioning why CCTV and other domestic media outlets were not covering the Pakistan suicide attack. With over 30 million reads, the issue snowballed.
“Pakistan has brutally killed Chinese citizens many times, but China has always been good to Pakistan” commented an angry verified handle on Weibo. Another said “Russia, Iran, and even our country (China) lack sufficient intelligence capabilities.”
The comment clearly questioned the competence and effectiveness of China’s Ministry of State Security. It was also a clear reference to the terror attack near Moscow last Friday. The inclusion of Iran indicated knowledge of the January attack in Kerman when over 100 people were killed when Islamic State suicide bombers blew themselves up.
While it is curious why Weibo did not censor or delete these comments, it’s even odder why they allowed this one on the site.
“The United States experienced a shooting incident, which CCTV reported on continuously for 24 hours, and many Chinese nationalist internet users (little pinks) were eagerly discussing it. Meanwhile, five Chinese citizens were attacked in Pakistan by terrorists, but after watching CCTV News for over an hour, I didn’t see any mention of it, and hardly anyone among the nationalist internet users shared it on Weibo. They often claim to love their country, but is this how they express their patriotism? They readily claim to care about their compatriots, but they seem more enthusiastic about events in the United States!”
The question that was repeated and echoed all over Weibo: “What about the domestic media?”, for which no answers were forthcoming. So when the domestic media is maintaining silence, presumably because they were told to do so by the government’s media bosses, why are these comments being allowed on Weibo? Is it to allow people to blow off steam, which if allowed to accumulate could blow up with implications for public order? Is it to keep track of habitual critics, dissenters, people who are under the security lens?
It’s hard to tell. China has got more opaque under Xi Jinping but one thing is clear: despite the public lid on anything remotely anti-government appearing in the media, beneath the surface China is bubblling with questions, criticism and opinion.
