The great translation movement: occult Chinese pro-Russia propaganda unveiled on Twitter

Russia's armed invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, has generated a series of political, economic and social reactions from actors in the international community. Among the various fronts on which Russian and Ukrainian forces are clashing is the propaganda front, a media and political clash that has seen multiple responses from the international public.

Looking at the Chinese case, however, there is a peculiarity, namely the discrepancy between the country's seemingly neutral stance adopted by the government and the evident pro-Russian nature of the news disseminated online. Indeed, it must be emphasised that since the beginning of the conflict, the government has expressed itself in neutral terms, refraining from openly criticising Russia but at the same time reaffirming its support for safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state, thus showing the ambiguous position in which China finds itself, given its relations with the Kremlin on the one hand and its foreign policy line on the other. [1]

Despite the neutral line maintained by the government, a rapidly spreading online phenomenon revealed the presence of pro-Russian views and propaganda in Chinese media and public opinion through a Twitter account called “The Great Translation Movement”. The origins of this informal network of dissidents remain unknown, despite several attempts to reconstruct the movement's birth. Among them, it is possible to name the theory supported by "The Atlantic" that traces the movement back to the online dissemination of the tweets of an Australian resident of Chinese origin (a former Chinese Foreign Ministry official employed at the Consulate General in Sydney) who, a few weeks after the start of the Russian offence, translated into English pro-Russian messages exchanged in a group chat of Chinese migrants living in Australia on the Chinese social network WeChat. [2]"The Diplomat", however, offers a different theory about the origin of the movement, which also seems to be the most supported, pointing to the creation of a subreddit channel called "ChonglangTV" as the triggering event, which quickly became an active space for sharing and denunciation among Chinese dissidents, before being banned for invasion of privacy. [3]

It is possible to describe the movement as an informal network of translators, born in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, aiming to translate from Chinese into English the contents of national newspapers, popular posts and comments on social platforms, speeches and communications by experts and scholars from China. The news being translated is not only about the Chinese government's and public opinion's stance on the Ukrainian conflict, but also sensitive topics such as the government's response to recent Covid outbreaks in the country, such as the notorious situation in Shanghai. Riding on the success of the hashtag, a Twitter account of the same name was created anonymously, which currently has more than 150,000 followers. 

The content translated by the community would include not only examples of misinformation about the war in Ukraine, but also radical and nationalist comments, sexist statements against Ukrainian women and other xenophobic and improper content. The movement was accused of treason by the national press, while a Shanghai municipal newspaper (“The paper”) reportedly traced some of the users involved to media notoriously critical of the Chinese government, including “Voice of America China”, "Radio Free Asia” and "Deutsche Welle”. It is interesting to note the considerable presence within the movement of citizens of Chinese origin living abroad, an element that reflects the government's distrust of those who cultivate close relations with outsiders. The growth of this attitude is further evidenced by the intimidation and arrests of reporters and contributors of Chinese origin employed by international newspapers over the past year. [4]

Following the spread of the online movement, local Chinese media distanced themselves from the content translated by the volunteer network while the “People's Daily”, the party's periodical, attributed the views to a minority of extremist users. [5]

The party-owned “Global times” newspaper has on several occasions condemned both Han Yang, author of the thread that is alleged to have started the movement, and the movement itself. In an article dated 14 April 2022, the periodical described the online translations as further barriers in intercultural communication between the West and China, as well as a sign of the former's hostility and prejudice towards the Asian giant. [6]

The pro-Russia disinformation spread in China also resonated at the European level, so much so that on 17 March 2022, the official account of the European External Action Service (EEAS) published for the first time a tweet entirely in Chinese, condemning the "pro-Kremlin" channels and the spread of disinformation about the conflict. [7]

Social media and their ability to circumvent censorship and government impositions prove once again that they play an increasingly significant role within the international community and the dynamics between its major actors. 

Translated by Margherita Folci

[1] Pieranni S., (1 marzo 2022). “La Crisi Ucraina, la Russia e la Cina”, Il Manifesto.

[2] Il thread da cui avrebbe poi tratto ispirazione il movimento secondo la ricostruzione di The Atlatnic appartiene ad un account Twitter dal nome “Han Yang”. https://twitter.com/polijunkie_aus/status/1500418730341580801

[3] McLaughlin T., (21 marzo 2022). “The volunteer Movement Enraging China”, The Atlantic.

[4] Colarizi A., (6 maggio 2022). “Dissenso leale? Il TGTM, un movimento di traduzioni in rete, contrasta la posizione del Partito Comunista Cinese riguardo alla guerra in Ucraina.”, Il Tascabile.

[5] Venturini M.E., (13 aprile 2022). “Cina-Russia, come funziona la propaganda di Pechino? Su Twitter emerge la verità.”, NewsBy.

[6] Huang L, Ziaoyi L., (14 aprile 2022). “Twisted in translation: Western media, social groups set up language barriers by intentionally misreading, misinterpreting Chinese materials”, Global Times.

[7] Meacci L., (26 marzo 2022). “L’Unione Europea non sa come fermare la propaganda pro-Russia della Cina”, Wired.