A Chinese social media influencer with millions of followers was recently arrested by Chinese authorities for questioning the Chinese soldiers’ death toll in the Sino-India border conflict in 2020. He was forced to make a “confession” on China’s state-run national TV.
Qiu was detained by local police on Feb. 20.
Also on Mar. 1, the Supreme Procuratorate of China posted Qiu’s “confession” footage on its official media Procuratorate Daily. State-run CCTV also broadcasted Qiu’s one-minute “confession” that evening.
In the video, Qiu was wearing prisoner’s clothes. He called his behavior “annihilating conscience” and said he felt “very regretful” for questioning the official death toll of Chinese soldiers from the Sino-India border clash.
Qiu, who has more than 2.4 million followers, published two posts. Qiu expressed sarcasm: “Only the highest rank Chinese official there—the regimental commander has survived. ... Anyway, we won.”
Qiu’s other post raised suspicion about the official death toll: “Look at it carefully, and the four died all because of going there to ’rescue.' Even the people who went to rescue all died. Then the people who needed rescue died. It means that the four people were not the only ones killed in the battle. This is also the reason why India dared to release the number and names of the dead the first time. In India’s view, they won with less casualties.”
“Some [of my information channels] told me that the death toll is 42. I think this number is accurate,” Yao said.
According to Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia, Qiu, 39, resides in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. He majored in journalism and has a master’s degree in law from the Political Department of Nanjing University. He once worked in the local Chinese media Jinling Evening News and Economic Observer as an investigative reporter.
At least six netizens in Beijing, Hebei, Guizhou, Guangdong, Sichuan, and Jiangsu have been arrested for questioning the official data of Chinese casualties in the border conflict, according to a report by Voice of America.
A 19-year-old netizen named Wang Jingyu from Chongqing city has become a fugitive, as the Chinese regime issued a warrant for him online for questioning the official numbers of Chinese soldier deaths.
Forced TV Confession
“Forced confessions on TV” is a unique tactic of the Chinese communist regime.It is a practice reminiscent of the many forced, public confessions by so-called “enemies of the state” in the era of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), which was a violent and tumultuous political movement launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong. Tens of millions of people in China were persecuted to death at that time.
In more recent years, people who are detained by the regime are forced to “admit their guilt” on TV. It causes public humiliation for the so-called “criminal” and it deters others. It violates basic human rights, despite the CCP’s claim that China has a rule of law society.