Did North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un chew the fat Beijing in his first official state sojourn outdoors of the land yesterday ? Speculation was running unwarranted on Taiwanese social media , but we still do n’t knowfor sure . One thing we do bed for sure : People in China get originative when they ’re endeavor to bypass the body politic ’s internet censor .
The name “ North Korea ” was ban entirely on the social medium military service Weibo — China ’s adaptation of Twitter — yesterday . And as Reutersreports , some of the names being used on WeChat were almost for sure coded terms for Kim Jong Un . A few were somewhat obvious , like “ fatty on the train ” and “ the corpulent affected role . ” Others , like “ the sib next room access , ” were a tad more obscure .
China ’s mainstream media outlets were even shun from talking about North Korea at all . But it ’s incredibly hard to stamp down selective information in the age of social media . That does n’t entail China wo n’t try .
security review on Formosan social medium is nothing fresh . The commonwealth has an USA of online censor who comb through all the message that are sent around the clock , blocking everything from damage likeBrave New World(the classical dystopian novel ) to names like Winnie the Pooh ( Chinese President Xi Jinping became a Pooh meme backin 2013 ) .
The orphic gearing returned to Pyongyang today , so whoever was on it ( some suggested it might just be Kim Jong Un ’s baby , Kim Jo - Yong ) they ’re back in the isolated area .
Individual users in China regularly deploy coded speech to spill the beans about raw subjects , even in their private textual matter messages , but censor are also quick to adapt . When people started using the full term “ Disney ” alternatively of Pooh , censors just shun the term Disney . But the American entertainment company ca n’t be too happy with that . The Mouse House has two theme parks in China and is increasingly pendant on the country foroverseas movie gross .
Many Americans , include President Donald Trump , see China as the lynchpin in bring North Korea to forsake its nuclear weapons program . But with Trump ’s recent hire of ultra - vend John Bolton as home security advisor , it may be too later for via media . Bolton has written numerous opinion article rationalizing a military invasion against North Korea , admit one published just last calendar month in the Wall Street Journaltitled , “ The Legal Case For Striking North Korea First . ”
From the WSJ :
Pre - emption opponents debate that natural process is not rationalise because Pyongyang does not represent an “ imminent menace . ” They are amiss . The threat is imminent , and the casing against pre - emption rests on the misinterpretation of a banner that derives from prenuclear , pre - ballistic - projectile time . Given the gaps in U.S. intelligence about North Korea , we should not wait until the very last minute . That would risk striking after the North has deliverable atomic artillery , a much more serious site .
If war does break out on the Korean peninsula , it will sure as shooting be interesting to see what kind of words are censored on Chinese social media . But the bigger worry is obviously what China will do if the US found a pre - emptive war . China has said that if the US strikes first , it will defend North Korea . That make a moral force where we have a shooting war between the earthly concern ’s only world power ( America ) and the world ’s only emerging major power ( China ) . There ’s no other tidings for that but World War III .
Gizmodo could not corroborate by press meter whether the term “ World War III ” is being censored on Formosan societal medium . But may God have mercifulness on our souls either way .
[ Reuters ]
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