China's Navy Propaganda Slapped With X Community Note

An official video hailing the Chinese navy's contributions to maritime safety off the Horn of Africa has been hit with a community note on Elon Musk's social media app X, formerly Twitter, amid Beijing's alleged inaction in the region in the Red Sea.

The military channel of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV released the 2-minute propaganda footage on Monday to celebrate 15 years of People's Liberation Army (PLA) navy escort missions to the Gulf of Aden, where China says its warships have protected thousands of commercial vessels against pirate attacks.

Late last month, three PLA Navy warships on an ongoing counter-piracy mission in the area were accused of ignoring a distress call from a merchant ship that had come under attack by Somali pirates, and which was later targeted by Houthi-launched rockets, according to the Pentagon.

The flotilla, which is led by one of the country's most-advanced, large destroyers, is not believed to have responded to any subsequent emergency calls by trading vessels in the Red Sea, where drone and missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to threaten international shipping lanes.

The state-run Global Times newspaper reposted the CCTV video on X and published an accompanying report on its website that described busy shipping routes in the region as "China's maritime trade and energy lifeline."

The clip showed PLA navy warships patrolling the waters off Somalia, as well as archive video of Chinese marines detaining alleged pirates. Since Beijing launched its naval task force on December 26, 2008, its warships have made 1,600 escort runs and protected 7,200 Chinese and foreign ships, it said.

"China's sending of warships to provide escorts in this pirate-infested region not only safeguards China's national strategic interests, but also fulfils its international responsibility and obligations by providing public security goods to the international community," the Global Times quoted an expert as saying.

Commentators on X, however, were quick to highlight the inconsistency between the PLA navy's message and its lack of response near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the southern Red Sea, which the Houthis have vowed to blockade in order to stop shipments to Israel.

A community note under the paper's X post now links to a Newsweek report about the Chinese navy's non-action in late November.

At the time, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon's press secretary, said that under international maritime norms and laws, "all vessels in the vicinity are required to come and help and support."

The Community Notes function has grown in popularity under Musk's ownership of the social media website, but the user-generated feature—ostensibly designed to combat misinformation—still lacks a mechanism for independent verification.

Since 2017, China's naval task force has been supported by an overseas logistics base in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. The Chinese navy's 45th escort flotilla comprises Type 052D destroyer the Urumqi, Type 054A frigate the Linyi and Type 903A replenishment ship the Dongpinghu.

The ships arrived in the Gulf of Aden on October 2, but there was no indication that the PLA Navy had been ordered to intervene in the ongoing Houthi attacks, which included an anti-ship ballistic missile that was fired at the Maersk Gibraltar, a Hong Kong-flagged container ship, in the waters north of the Bab el-Mandeb.

China's Foreign Ministry did not return queries sent by email, and the Chinese Defense Ministry could not be reached for comment.

In a call with his Chinese counterpart earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reminded Beijing of its international responsibilities in the area.

"Houthi attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea pose an unacceptable threat to maritime security and international law that all nations have an obligation to uphold," Blinken told Wang Yi, China's foreign minister and the Communist Party's foreign affairs chief.

China's state media outlets spent the past week criticizing the American-led naval coalition under Operation Prosperity Guardian amid signs of hesitation by U.S. allies.

"The appeal of the U.S. has declined, as the U.S. that is used to being echoed is now being rejected," the Global Times concluded in a report on Monday.