# Tiananmen and Xinjiang are bastions of Western propaganda [[2022-07|July 2022]]. While Russia is known for spreading fake news and disinformation, and China has a reputation of opaqueness and censorship, it should be noted that the West is very skilled at manipulating the opinion too (see [[@pascalbonifaceMediasGuerreGaza2024|Le traitement médiatique du génocide palestinien en France devient difficilement tenable]]). In particular, the fervor displayed by Western media in denouncing the Chinese abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang is remarkable. However, an article on Chris Kanthan's blog *World Affairs* asserts that the Uyghur population has doubled over the last 40 years and that the GDP of Xinjiang has grown tenfold over the last 20 years. Furthermore, it shows many instances of places in Xinjiang wrongly alleged to be concentration camps; if the story was true, why would Forbes and BuzzFeed need to blatantly lie about it? While the Chinese government did relocate thousands of Uyghur families, those people used to live in houses made of mud and grass, without electricity. Chris Kanthan also elaborates on how much the US invested in NGOs whose aim was to criticize or outright spread misinformation about Xinjiang. Finally, he points out that the US actually bombed Uyghurs in Afghanistan, highlighting the hypocrisy of the outcry. The same goes for the alleged Tiananmen Square massacre: reporters from CBS, the BBC, the NYTimes and Reuters all declared that nobody died in the square during the night of June 3rd 1989. The official report from the Chinese government in 1989 says that around 300 people died, half of which were soldiers or policemen. For sure, the army did commit atrocities and murder citizens, but the rioters could also display extreme cruelty, for instance by beating to death a young soldier, stripping him naked and hanging him on the side of a burnt bus. In total, more that 1,000 military and police vehicles were burned by rioters. What is more, most soldiers who were there were actually unarmed, and the protests remained pacific for weeks. They turned violent in great part because the CIA had been helping student activists' form an anti-government movement. In conclusion, while China is not blameless, it is important to keep a healthy dose of skepticism about Western narratives. --- ## 📚 References - Kanthan, Chris. [“Xinjiang and Uyghurs — What You’re Not Being Told.”](https://worldaffairs.blog/2019/07/05/xinjiang-and-uyghurs-what-youre-not-being-told/.) World Affairs, 6 July 2019 - Kanthan, Chris. [“Tiananmen Square Massacre – Facts, Fiction and Propaganda.”](https://worldaffairs.blog/2019/06/02/tiananmen-square-massacre-facts-fiction-and-propaganda/) World Affairs, 2 June 2019.