The Information War Being Waged by China amid Hong Kong's Anti-Extradition Movement

In opposing their government’s proposed revision of the Anti-Extradition Law, Hong Kong’s citizens launched a movement which has already lasted several months. Despite a brutal police crackdown, the protests have been of unprecedented scale, creativity, tenacity, courage, and social solidarity. Since the movement necessarily indicates resistance on the part of Hong Kong’s citizens to China’s authoritarian rule, China has become its natural adversary. In response, Beijing has launched a war of information and propaganda which has only served to show how Beijing’s perspective on events stands in sharp contrast to the image of protestors presented by the media in Hong Kong and in democratic Western nations. This lecture will juxtapose these different narratives, allowing us to recognize the tactics with which China propagandizes to the world.