This Chinese professor did not suggest cutting water supplies to Hong Kong -- his comments were taken out of context
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on September 2, 2019 at 11:05
- 5 min read
- By AFP Singapore
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Xiakedao published their interview with Zheng here on August 19, 2019.
The article's headline states: “Conversation with Zheng Yongnian: How would the Hong Kong disturbance ends?”
Hong Kong has seen months of sometimes violent pro-democracy protests this summer, sparked by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China. Here is a recent AFP report on the issue.
Zheng was asked by Xiakedao how the situation in Hong Kong could be resolved.
He answered: “As a whole, these people in Hong Kong will not get anywhere. A friend of mine is a top Singaporean official, and he says: ‘you can just threaten to cut the water supply.’ Because Singaporean people are very sensitive, they will be in trouble if Malaysia stops providing water.
“That’s absolutely a joke. Actually, there are a lot of restrictions in Hong Kong, and most of the local people know it’s impossible to lose connection with the Chinese mainland. But a few radical people are taking advantage of the convenience brought by (the city’s) internationalization.”
A day after the original interview was published, Shanghai-based website, The Paper, picked up Zheng’s comments and published this report around noon on August 20, 2019.
The simplified Chinese headline translates to English as: “Zheng Yongnian interviewed by People’s Daily: Cutting water supply can end the chaotic situation in Hong Kong.”
Below is a screenshot of the article and misleading headline published by The Paper:
The article's second paragraph states: “Recently, the editor of the official WeChat account ‘Xiakedao’ had a conversation with Professor Zheng Yongnian from National University of Singapore. Below is a transcript of the dialogue.”
Xiakedao is a media channel run by the People's Daily’s overseas edition. It’s verified Weibo account can be seen here.
Hong Kong has been importing Dongjiang water from Guangdong province in southern China since 1965 to meet local water demand, according to Hong Kong's Water Supplies Department on its website here.
The same article and misleading headline that appeared in The Paper has been published elsewhere by regional news sites such as those from the Chinese cities of Shenyang, Yangzhou and Linxia, which can be seen here, here and here.
After the comments began circulating widely under the misleading headline, the Institute of Public Policy from South China University of Technology published this post on Weibo on August 21, 2019, clarifying, after a request from Professor Zheng, that the headline was misleading.
The Weibo post's caption states: “Zheng Yongnian, Honorary Professor of South China University of Technology, entrusted the official Weibo account of the Institute of Public Policy of South China University of Technology, to issue a solemn statement strongly condemning the ‘sensational headline writers’ of media organizations such as The Paper, which has severely twisted and worsened the opposition between people from mainland China and Hong Kong, and has caused extremely bad effects.”
The Weibo post contains two pictures, one of which shows a statement from Professor Zheng Yongnian.
The simplified Chinese statement translates to English as: “I have noticed that some media organizations in China published a news article at noon today, headlined ‘Zheng Yongnian interviewed by People’s Daily: Cutting water supply can end the chaotic situation in Hong Kong’. The headline has seriously twisted my original meaning when I was interviewed by ‘Xiakedao’ under the People’s Daily. At this sensitive moment when the situation in Hong Kong is grim, these acts by ‘sensational headline writers’ have severely infringed my right of fame, and also severely twisted and worsened the opposition between people from the mainland and Hong Kong, which has caused extremely bad effects.
“It’s always a tragedy if the media‘s morality degenerates. I am indignant about these deeds by specific media organizations, and I ask them here to delete the article and publish apologies, so as to diminish the bad effects.
“I reserve the right to take legal action against these media organizations.”
The statement ends with a signature “Zheng Yongnian” and the date “August 20, 2019”.
Below is a screenshot of the statement picture posted by the institute:
The other image contained in the institute’s Weibo post is a screenshot of a mobile-version of The Paper’s news article page, with the misleading headline. Two sentences have been added onto the image, saying “The Paper’s malicious sensational headline writer, severely twisted the truth” in red font and “Amoral media, (we) strongly denounce” in orange font. Below is a screenshot of the image:
Xiakedao published on August 20, 2019 a Weibo post, which can be seen here, saying: “These sensational headline writers are really hateful! Professor Zheng Yongnian has never mentioned anything about ‘cutting water supply to end the Hong Kong chaotic situation’, which has been clearly seen from our interview yesterday. We hereby declare it here!”
The Weibo post contains two images, one of which shows Professor Zheng Yongnian’s statement, in a slightly different layout.
The other image shows a screenshot of the Xiakedao’s interview article with its original headline, as well as a screenshot of the content which shows the relevant section of Zheng’s answer circled in red.
Below are screenshots of Xiakedao’s Weibo pictures:
The Paper subsequently corrected it’s story, which can be seen here, with the headline now saying: “Conversation with Zheng Yongnian: How would the Hong Kong disturbance ends?”
But the misleading version continues to circulate on social media and Hong Kong's local news sites for example here, here, and here.
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