President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing this week is a topic no doubt many Chinese have opinions about. Naturally, however, discussions between Trump and Xi Jinping touch on many issues that are too sensitive to speak of openly on social media. One of those issues is North Korea.
A seemingly innocent post at around 2PM Beijing time by Weibo user “Wang Dong Money” (王东Money), a former magazine editor with just under 76,000 fans, was deleted less than two hours later. It simply read:

There is a big foreign affairs event in Beijing tomorrow. From the afternoon to evening, many roads will be temporarily closed . . . .
北京明有重大外事活动 下午至晚间多路段将分时交通管制……

The reference to possible traffic congestion was almost surely not a problem, but the post was in fact a re-post of this message from the official Weibo account of the American Embassy in Beijing, quoting President Trump on his visit to Japan (English from the original speech):

“We are working to counter the dangerous aggressions of the regime in North Korea. The regime continues development of its unlawful weapons programs, including its illegal nuclear tests and outrageous launches of ballistic missiles directly over Japanese territory are a threat to the civilized world and to international peace and stability. We will not stand for that. The era of strategic patience is over.” — Trump address at joint press conference with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe . . .
“我们正努力抗击北朝鲜政权危险的侵略行为。该政权继续发展非法的武器项目,包括非法核试验,肆无忌惮地发射直接飞越日本领土的弹道导弹,对文明世界及国际和平与稳定构成威胁。我们决不能听之任之。战略忍耐的时代结束了。” –特朗普总统与日本首相安倍在联合记者会上发表讲话(摘译) …

The American Embassy post was deleted at 3:59PM Beijing time today, about 3 hours after it was first posted.
 
 
 


CMP Staff

The China Media Project

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