China Partly Censors U.S. Embassy Statement on Trade Truce
China Partly Censors U.S. Embassy Statement on Trade Truce
(Bloomberg) -- A social media post by the U.S. embassy in Beijing about the trade agreement between the two nations was being partially censored on Monday, with the WeChat article visible but blocked from forwarding or sharing.
Separate posts on the death of former President George H. W. Bush weren’t similarly affected and could be shared. The embassy WeChat posts about the outcome of the talks, which postponed the imposition of higher tariffs on Chinese goods by at least 90 days, were in English and Chinese.
The official statements made by China and the U.S. about what was agreed at the meeting in Argentina between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump contained marked differences and omissions on both sides.
For example, the Chinese statement did not include mention of the 90-day deadline or a requirement that the nation begins buying more U.S. farm, energy and other products.
The U.S. embassy declined to comment on a specific post, but a spokesperson who asked not to be named said the embassy faced regular and routine blocking of social media posts in China.
The embassy has repeatedly used its account on Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat network and other social media to post statements and news critical of China, including about the detention of Muslims in Xinjiang Province.
Tencent didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
--With assistance from Lulu Yilun Chen.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: James Mayger in Beijing at jmayger@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey Black at jblack25@bloomberg.net, James Mayger, Chris Bourke
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