Chinese enterprises erase “Israel” from digital maps, as Xi supports Palestine
Notably, the full names of countries as minor as Luxembourg were visible, but not those of Israel.
Leading Chinese tech firms Baidu and Alibaba have removed Israel’s official name from their online digital maps. The action has been taken in response to the war between the Jewish nation and the Islamist terrorist group Hamas, which has left the Chinese internet overrun with antisemitic content.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to disclose on Monday that Baidu and Alibaba had stopped mentioning Israel specifically. According to the article, “Baidu’s language online maps demarcate the internationally recognised borders of Israel, as well as the Palestinian territories, plus key cities, but don’t clearly identify the country by name.”
Notably, the full names of countries as minor as Luxembourg were visible, but not those of Israel. The Chinese businesses have not yet provided an explanation for this action.
Social media and Chinese media are full of antisemitic content
The internet, which is closely supervised by the Communist Party, has been overrun with antisemitic content in the past month.
Top Chinese nationalist commentator urged the West against pushing “others to the corner” in a comment that sparked quite a bit of debate on China’s Weibo platform, which is similar to X. “In the past, Germany persecuted you. Now, you persecute Palestinians. In this world, do not force others to the corner because you would only be digging your own grave,” commentator stated.
“Jews always talk about how badly they were treated during World War II and throughout history. But you can’t ask why. Otherwise, you are called a racist or that you envy their money,” said a different Weibo user in a post that received over 2,000 likes.
The US has also been criticised by Chinese media for being “on the wrong side of history on Gaza,” while Chinese President Xi Jinping has backed Palestine.
At the Riyadh-Gulf-Summit for Cooperation and Development in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese president declared, “It is not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinians.”
How do the Chinese perceive Jews?
On China’s internet for a long time, conspiracy theories about Jewish influence have been circulating, claiming that groups such as Freemasonry have secretly controlled US politics and international relations.
An account on Weibo linked to China’s state-run CCTV said that the Jewish community was heavily involved in US politics and finance, frequently referencing Israel as a deciding factor in US elections. Since then, this post has been deleted.
You might also be intersted in – Israel-Hamas war and Russia-Ukraine conflict: Impact on India’s economy and global markets
