Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: US Civil Air Patrol/Public Domain
COMMENTING ON REPORTS by disinformation-focused organization Newsguard about Chinese disinformation that claim wildfires in Maui are the result of US “weather weapons” in September, Taiwanese researchers warned of similar efforts targeting Taiwan.
In particular, such disinformation appeared on 85 social media accounts and blogs, which were spread out across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other social media networks and platforms. Such disinformation appeared in 15 different languages.
The specific disinformation alleged that a US scientist with a guilty conscience had gone public about how US weapons testing led to the fires. It was alleged that this was the result of US weapons able to control hurricanes, storms, volcanic eruptions, and floods. It is claimed that the US aims to use such weapons against Russia and Middle Eastern countries that are not aligned with it geopolitically.
As for why such weapons were used against Maui, the suggestion would be that this was the result of weapons testing gone wrong. Otherwise, it was suggested that the US is seeking to appropriate Indigenous lands through the use of such weaponry.
Such disinformation may aim to target conspiracy theorists who may already be predisposed to views. To this extent, one also notes that the framing of the US as using secretive weapons testing as a pretext to appropriate Maui may aim to appeal to the political left, perhaps hoping to attract leftists who are conspiracy-oriented and who may see American actions in this light.
Certainly, even though it is unlikely that the US has the ability to control the weather through technological means, it is true that the US did conduct weapons testing for nuclear arms on Pacific islands, disregarding the harm to local residents and the environment. Such propaganda may aim to draw upon this fact. To this extent, such propaganda may take advantage of global climate change, to try and pin blame for this on the nefarious actions of the US, and further appeal to those who are concerned about the potential effects of climate change.
Photo credit: U.S. Coast Guard Hawai’i Pacific District 14/Public Domain
Likewise, the narrative about weapons testing gone wrong is increasingly prevalent internationally after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although all indications are that COVID-19 likely has natural origins, the claim that COVID-19 could be due to Chinese bioweapons testing gone wrong came to be embraced by American politicians hawkish against China in past years. This framing often drew on the fact that P4 biosafety laboratories were present in Wuhan, never mind that facilities studying viruses in a major metropolitan center are not exactly unusual.
In response to this narrative, the Chinese government has itself come to embrace conspiratorial claims suggesting that COVID-19 actually originates in the US and not China–and could be due to American bioweapons testing gone wrong. Such conspiracy theories have often centered around P4 facilities that were shut down in Fort Detrick, Maryland in August 2019 after safety violations.
Such conspiracy theories have made their way to Taiwan, too, becoming part of political narratives that seek to cast doubt on the reliability of the US as an ally. An article in the United Daily News (UDN), one of the major outlets of the pan-Blue camp, suggested based on what it claimed were leaked documents that the US had requested Taiwan to participate in bioweapons development. This would be with the goal of using such weapons against China. This reporting embraced similar claims to COVID-19-related conspiracy theories, including alleging that the use of P4 facilities in Taiwan was with the aim of bioweapons development.
The Taiwanese government later denied such reports, pointing out that the documents that the UDN cited were photoshopped. Nevertheless, there were insufficient legal grounds for the government to sue the UDN over its reporting.
Still, one has seen the emergence of similar narratives to those at work in the conspiracy theory about weather weapons, such as with regard to claims that the US has a secret plan to “destroy” Taiwan. This, too, proves a means by which Chinese disinformation dovetails with conspiratorial thinking and existing political narratives that question if the US would genuinely support Taiwan in wartime. One would not be surprised to see continued disinformation along these lines.