US academic targeted by fabricated clip on China-Japan relations

"Mearsheimer: Japan thought it could provoke China without facing economic retaliation is a fundamental misunderstanding of modern geoeconomics," reads the simplified Chinese caption of the TikTok video published on November 24, 2025.

The clip contains a text overlay that largely repeats the caption and shows a man who resembles John Mearsheimer, a renowned international relations scholar, sharing his views on Japan's relations with China (archived link).

"When I examined Japan's growing confrontation with China, what stands out is how profoundly Tokyo has misjudged the geoeconomic balance of power," the person says in the nearly three-minute video.

"But Japan's choice to adopt a more assertive posture toward China, particularly regarding Taiwan, represents a miscalculation that undermines both its economic stability and its long-term security."

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Screenshot of the false TikTok post captured on December 10, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

Relations between China and Japan have taken a nosedive following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan (archived link).

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to take the democratic island.

The latest incident in the spat involves Tokyo summoning Beijing's ambassador on December 7 after Chinese military aircraft locked radar onto Japanese fighter jets near Okinawa's main island (archived link).

AFP previously debunked other claims related to the row. 

The clip has been shared alongside similar claims on X, Facebook, and YouTube in English and Japanese.

But the video is fabricated. 

'Not an accurate representation'

A reverse image search on Google traced the video -- which has since been deleted -- to a YouTube channel called Mearsheimer Fans Channel (archived link). 

Its description reads: "This channel is not affiliated with Professor John J. Mearsheimer, the University of Chicago, or any other institution... © Mearsheimer Reality – For educational purposes only."

In the clip, the movements of Mearsheimer's lips look unnatural while his shoulders do not move at all, which are signs of AI-generated content.

Voice-cloning detection tool Hiya, available within the Verification Plugin, indicates that the falsely shared clip's audio is "likely AI-generated".

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Screenshot of the results from the Hiya voice cloning detection tool

AFP has also found at least three other YouTube channels that published videos misrepresented as Mearsheimer's commentaries. YouTube has added a note warning that "sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated" in the videos' descriptions.

"It definitely is not an accurate representation of my views on the relationship between China and Japan," Mearsheimer told AFP in an email on December 10, 2025. 

He went on to say that he was fully aware of the problem, and he and his assistant have been attempting to shut it down for about two months.

"As you can imagine, this is a terribly disturbing situation, as these videos are fake, and they are designed to give viewers the sense that they are real," the political science professor at the University of Chicago said. 

"I am deeply disappointed in YouTube's unwillingness to shut this problem down, especially since it not only damages me, but YouTube as well," he said. "Moreover, it undermines the notion of an open and honest discourse, which we need so much and which YouTube is supposed to facilitate."

AFP reached out to YouTube for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.