The Chinese Embassy Twitter account claimed they were hacked on Dec. 9, after the account retweeted a claim from President Trump alleging Democrats cheated in the 2020 election.
“The Chinese Embassy twitter account was hacked this afternoon and we condemn such an act. For clarification, the Embassy didn’t do any retweeting on Dec.9,” the embassy said on Thursday.
The Chinese Embassy twitter account was hacked this afternoon and we condemn such an act. For clarification, the Embassy didn’t do any retweeting on Dec.9.
— Chinese Embassy in US (@ChineseEmbinUS) December 10, 2020
On Wednesday, the embassy retweeted the post from Trump, which said, “If somebody cheated in the Election, which the Democrats did, why wouldn’t the Election be immediately overturned? How can a Country be run like this?”
If somebody cheated in the Election, which the Democrats did, why wouldn’t the Election be immediately overturned? How can a Country be run like this?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2020
The tweet was marked by Twitter as “disputed.”
This is not the first time a Chinese diplomatic entity claimed its Twitter account had been hacked. In September, the account for Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, liked tweets critical of the Chinese Communist Party as a pornographic video. The embassy later claimed that “anti-China elements” had “viciously attacked” the account and urged Twitter to conduct “thorough investigations.”
The retweet of the president comes as part of a pattern of the Chinese Foreign Ministry amplifying Western controversies on social media. Earlier this month, after Australia released a report investigating war crimes committed by a group of Australian special forces operators, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted a graphic allegedly of an Australian soldier cutting an Afghan child’s throat.
“It is a false image and a terrible slur on our great defense forces and the men and women who have served in that uniform for over 100 years,” said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in response.
Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times, posted on social media in response to the Chinese retweet, “For autocrats, Trump is helping delegitimize democracy and eroding US standing. Putin has repeated his arguments too.”
This is notable — and a key marker for those who say Trump’s actions help China: The Chinese embassy in the US has retweeted Trump’s fake claim of election fraud. For autocrats, Trump is helping delegitimize democracy and eroding US standing. Putin has repeated his arguments too. pic.twitter.com/HCEg5kOl4J
— Edward Wong (@ewong) December 9, 2020
“Guess who loves Trump’s lunatic disinformation campaign aimed at further harming our nation’s electoral system?” asked Mark Follman, national affairs editor at Mother Jones. “That’s right, China’s U.S. embassy loves it.”
Guess who loves Trump’s lunatic disinformation campaign aimed at further harming our nation’s electoral system? That’s right, China’s U.S. embassy loves it pic.twitter.com/XMkyT8nOab
— Mark Follman (@markfollman) December 9, 2020
The Washington Examiner reached out to Twitter for comment on the alleged hacking but did not immediately receive a response.
Joel Gehrke and Mica Soellner contributed to this report.
