WikiLeaks Misreading Leads to Online ‘Spy’ Hunt

The release of unredacted United States (US) diplomatic cables since late August 2011 by WikiLeaks, has resulted in an online witch hunt in China.

The word “informant” in the documents was misinterpreted as “Xianren” which usually refers to a “rat” or “spy” who makes a living by selling information. As a result, those civilians who appeared in the cables have been accused by nationalists as being traitors of the country, even though quite a large number of the informants are Chinese government officials or work for government think tanks.

Online witch hunt

Utopia, a website upholding Maoist ideology, has created a post “Who are the Xianren of the US State Council?” and singled out a number of the informants. The post has attracted many angry comments, such as:

Our country is in danger, we should not have mercy on the traitors. People should hunt them down.
All these traitors deserve to die. Remember their name and make them payback later.
Arrest all these people and sentence them to death for betraying the nation.
All these people are manipulators of public opinion and guilty of shaping our local politics.

Extreme nationalist website Jinbushehui Net, has documented all the details of the informants who appear in the cables, as well as more than a hundred Weibo commentaries attacking law professor He Weifang.

The website has also posted a full list of the “strictly protected” informant’s names on forum Weibo, urging readers [zh] to be aware of them. Another Weibo user, @ac0591, has picked out some 20 names from the 100 plus mentioned, as smearing targets. This list was further spread by another law professor Wu Fatian and attracted a lot of attention on the forum.

He Weifang has responded [zh] to the organized witch hunt on Weibo:

[On his surprise at being named a “Xianren”] It is an evil act to make use of people’s lack of language ability and twist dialogue and exchange into “spy or rat” who provide intelligence. In the original English text, where you can find the meaning of “rat”? According to such logic, what about our party and state leaders who keep having “friendly talks” without foreign leaders on a daily basis?

Reactions and debate

After a round of debate, Wu Fatian apologised on Weibo. However, another round of heated exchange has since been triggered off with Science Cop, Fang Zhouzi’s comments about the cables, in which he highlighted [zh] Yu Jianrong’s “strictly protected” status:

According to the US diplomatic cables as released by WikiLeaks, He Weifang had met with the US embassy officials eight times between 2007-2009. The most frequent one among all of the informants. But he is still in the “protected” category. Yu Jianrong only talked to them once and became a “strictly protected” informant. The cables said that He Weifang is an “embassy contact”, not “informer” nor “collaborator” as reported by some foreign or overseas websites.

Even though Fang did not make any accusations, Yu Jianrong, a political science professor and a government think tank employee was outraged by his comment. He replies [zh] with the following statement in Weibo:

Regarding the online rumor that I have become one of the US government’s “strictly protected” informant, here is a statement: 1. I have strong belief in our country’s national security system, and they would not miss such serious crime. 2. I always work according to the state regulation, which requires permission before and report after meeting any foreign diplomats.

Overseas scholar Xue Yong defends [zh] Yu Jianrong with a sense of humor:

Surprised to hear that Yu Jianrong is an US embassy “Xianren” and strictly protected. What I know so far is that he talked about the problem regarding the development of privatization and local finance based on the selling of land. What he said is just copying Adam Smith and domestic media. Actually, he is my informant, he told me that there is a Sichuan restaurant near Harvard. This is information in a strict sense, the name of the restaurant and its whereabout. However, he could not even tell me the exact spot of the restaurant, just told me that it was near the supermarket. He is such an useless informant.

Many public intellectuals on Weibo helped to correct the misleading translation of “informant”. Famous blogger, WuYueShengRen writes [zh]:

What is the meaning of “Xianren”? In the triad, they are called under-covered [ones], rats, they sell information to the cops to crack down on the triad. What is their perception of our own government when they call our scholars, civilian and former government officials US “Xianren”? These people have evil intentions, they are “pigs.” This is a joke: a bunch of scholars who do not have access to national secrets and cannot find ways to help the country, what can they sell?

Law professor Zhang Xuezhong has also spoken out [zh] to clarify the misunderstanding:

[ Am I a Xianren?] If a foreign organization asked my opinion on Chinese current affairs, so long as I did not have the intention to become the organization’s spy, and what I had said have not violated any law in China, regardless of the organization’s intention, I did nothing wrong. Many foreign organizations also ask Chinese leaders to express their opinions, and they are definitely not “Xianren.”

Lawyer Pu Zhiqiang wonders [zh] why he had not been put on the informant list:

The US informants released by WikiLeaks include He Weifang and Liu Xiaoyuen, I feel bad that I have not been included. If I were in the position of a “Xianren,” I would use a piece of information for multiple purposes. For example, collect the dark practices of the Chinese judiciary and prosecutor, the helpless situation of ordinary Chinese citizens and submit them to Chinese national security department, CIA and United Nations in Geneva! I would surpass He Weifang and become a double agent!

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This article was originally published on Global Voices

Photo Source: FlickR CC mermadon 1967