Sri Lankan leaders and industrialists are also creating an atmosphere in favor of China
As The Island Online reports, protests against the Rajapaksa family’s return to power in 2020 and their ouster in 2022 have escalated restrictions on press freedom and attacks on journalists. Due to this the hold of the local media has weakened in its own country. China has taken advantage of this. The report noted that high-level relations between the Sri Lankan and Chinese governments have led politicians and industrialists to spread Chinese propaganda in a big way, both domestically and internationally.
China’s capture of Sri Lanka’s official media and social media
Sri Lanka’s state-run newspaper Daily News, national business paper The Daily FT, some elite-class cultural organizations and think tanks are creating an atmosphere in the country by serving content in favor of China. In addition, Chinese diplomats have adopted the strategy of the Wolf Warrior, who regularly opens up against critics on social media platforms. Not only this, China has also opened large scale fake social media accounts in Sri Lanka. Those who oppose anti-China content by calling themselves Sri Lankan citizens.
Chinese media serving content in Sinhala and Tamil
Even, China Radio International broadcasts its programs in Sinhala, the main language of Sri Lanka. Its main goal is to create an atmosphere in favor of China to the Sri Lankan audience. It is available on social media in both Sinhala and Tamil languages. Its Sinhalese account also has 1.4 million followers. According to the population of Sri Lanka and the number of people using the internet, there are so many followers. Especially since 2020, Facebook influencers associated with Chinese state media have increasingly pushed content targeting youth in local languages, including Sinhala.