Thread by @GeringTuvia

"Developments in Ukraine have led to an increase in hostile remarks and acts to slander China on social media overseas, and some anti-China groups have gradually surfaced from the darkest corners of the web. The latest trend is the so-called 'Great Translation Movement.'"
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Quoted from a March 17 op-ed by military analyst Wang Qiang in the CCP tabloid Global Times (in Chinese), titled "The so-called 'Great Translation Movement' is a farce."

The GTM is a neologism traced back to overseas Chinese forums (r/ChongLangTV) following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and has since been picked up by non-mainland Chinese language media, such as this DW piece. It is often seen with the hashtag #大翻译运动
dw.com/zh/%E5%A4%A7%E…

After reading Wang's op-ed, as well as one by nationalist Buyidao, which was also posted by GT (h/t @niubi) and included ad-hominem attacks on SupChina's @goldkorn, BBC's @StephenMcDonell, and others, I believe we may expect to hear more about the GTM in the future.

Excerpts from Wang Qiang's op-ed:
"The latest trend on overseas social media is the so-called the Great Translation Movement (GTM).

"It involves cherry-picking and translating some relatively impassioned comments on Chinese social media in order to spread evident anti-Chinese sentiments to foreign audiences via click-baits and labeling, and prove that the "Chinese people are not as friendly as you think.

"Facts have shown that this so-called 'spontaneous online movement' is backed not just by old-school anti-China media like Voice of America and RFA, but also by the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) internet army '1450' (Taiwan's alleged version of the 50 Cent Army - TG).

"When it comes to the so-called 'unfriendly remarks' that these people are looking for, there will always be differing viewpoints, and divisive expressions by some individuals are a typical occurrence on social media.

"This phenomenon can be found everywhere in the Internet age, so it should come as no surprise. The lopsided amplification of such actions, however, as well as the labeling of an entire nation as if they represent that country's mindset and behavior, should be cause for concern.

"Unlike previous smear campaigns against the Chinese people, the GTM explicitly blames the Chinese government for the so-called negative image of the Chinese people, drawing a clear distinction from overseas Chinese and highlighting the purpose of this farce:

"to slander the Chinese political system by vilifying the Chinese people in a futile attempt to achieve the fundamental goal of provoking a "color revolution" in China.

"From this perspective, the so-called GTM's theoretical ideology is based on accelerationism; its essence is the standard tactic of "peaceful evolution;"

"it's no different than other trite and ham-fisted formulas ("three axe techniques" 三板斧) for waging public opinion struggle, i.e., the use of cultural constructs for labeling, a stigmatization occurring prolonged interactions, and a nihilistic approach to historical narratives

"Some Western forces believe that by employing these "three axe techniques," they can easily achieve their goals of occupying the legal high ground, controlling the moral high ground, and flaunting the cultural high ground.

"This is a system of public opinion warfare built on a perception of cultural superiority and supported by advanced communication technology, for which the two primary components are information dissemination and cultural infiltration.

"From a cultural standpoint, other civilizations are regarded as 'non-mainstream', contrarian, alien, or even heretical by the West.

"While Western civilization can tolerate them to some extent, it will never allow them to take over the mainstream opinion, which is critical for capitalism's continued supremacy.

"To defeat the sly GTM, we must create our own GTM that 'tells the China story well' in an open and transparent way. To begin, we should develop a plan to combat the deliberate obfuscation of our official public advocacy by improving diplomatic communication and

"utilizing bilateral, multilateral, and civil diplomacy channels to make it heard;

"second, we must devise ways to cope with the out-of-context quoting of Chinese scholars, by strengthening think-tank communication methods and providing them with multiple channels to express their views to international audiences;

"finally, in order to combat distortion and amplification of Chinese public opinion, we should strive to raise the level of public opinion, for example, by issuing timely statements through official media to establish the proper narrative,

"publishing public opinion polls on a specific area of concern through authoritative institutions, and reinforcing facts with data, among other things. It's critical to emphasize that our internal and external communication activities must be coordinated.

"It is crucial to train a large cohort of young netizens who are informed, principled, proficient in foreign languages, and patriotic in order to serve as translators who can truly communicate the China story well.

"Over time, these new recruits will develop into a dedicated task force in the Internet struggle, contributing in the battle against the so-called GTM."
/End
Link: opinion.huanqiu.com/article/47DoZs…
Addendum:

https://twitter.com/GeringTuvia/status/1506538476115828749?s=20&t=1yaUsC4P8yko8AC8tKo30w