China’s online nationalist army: How social media users weaponized patriotism

TOKYO/NEW YORK/HONG KONG — The November protests in China against President Xi Jinping’s draconian zero-COVID strategy made global headlines as the biggest public act of anti-government resistance in decades.

The demonstrators, some of whom even called for Xi to step down, laid bare frustration at long lockdowns that have damaged the economy and people’s livelihoods.

But some prominent Chinese social media commentators saw a very different universe. These nationalist netizens accused “foreign forces” of stoking the rage – a conspiratorial idea long used by the ruling Communist Party to discredit opposition.

“What are the goals of foreign forces? To worsen our internal conflicts, of course, but also to totally politicize our epidemic prevention policies,” a user known as Chairman Rabbit posted to his 1.8 million followers on the popular Weibo social media platform. Rabbit, whose real name is Ren Yi, is a Harvard-educated investment banker and grandson of the prominent late politician Ren Zhongyi.