VZCZCXRO1085
OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #1649 1681035
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171035Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4608
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS BEIJING 001649 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EINT CH IR
 
SUBJECT: CHINESE INTERNET REACTION TO IRANIAN ELECTION 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. The recent Iranian presidential elections and their aftermath 
were hot topics on major Chinese news portals, Internet forums and 
microblog platforms in China over the past week.  Netizen commentary 
on traditionally liberal sites expressed support for students with 
some even comparing the situation in Iran to China.  However, as 
with most topics, opinions on the events in Iran differed widely 
among Chinese netizens.  A survey of major Chinese websites on June 
17 revealed that netizens posting on mainstream or conservative 
sites tended to side with the Iranian government and criticize 
protesters.  End Summary. 
 
High Volume of Discussion 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  The Iranian presidential elections and their aftermath were 
hotly discussed topics on the Chinese Internet beginning on June 13. 
 On Sina.com, a popular news portal that ranks stories based on 
viewer traffic, articles on Iran made up four of the ten most 
commented on international news articles on June 14.  Throughout the 
week, topics related to North Korea and Iran were among the most 
discussed stories on Sina.com.  Though harder to quantify, Chinese 
discussion of Iranian elections was also widespread on microblogging 
platforms.  On the Chinese twitter clone Fanfou, for example, 
searches on June 17th revealed between 5 and 15 posts about the 
Iranian election per hour.  Discussion of Iran on microblog 
platforms was increased when well known internet personalities 
including Ai Weiwei, Lian Yue and Michael Anti began publishing 
comments about Iran.  These comments were then widely reposted by 
other users. 
 
Unsympathetic Netizens 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. Netizen commentary published on many mainstream Internet sites 
was generally critical of Iranian protesters.  On popular mainstream 
Internet news portal Sohu.com, netizens were critical of what they 
saw as a "color revolution" with western government involvement. 
Some popular comments included: "Mir Hussein Moussavi is America's 
inside man," "democracy is always easily manipulated by the west" 
and "America is the black hand behind the scenes."  While many 
netizens posting on the more conservative People's Daily's Strong 
Country Forum and the militaristic Tiexue.net echoed the sentiments 
found on Sohu, those sites also served as a platform for deeper 
analysis of events in Iran.  Analysis there mostly focused on 
whether Iran was experiencing a "color revolution." (Note: It is 
impossible to discount the influence of paid government netizens who 
are known to receive compensation for posting government approved 
messages on Chinese websites.  These members of the so-called "50 
Cent party" are paid a nominal fee per posting in order to give 
Internet readers the impression that certain government endorsed 
opinions are more widely held than they actually are.) 
 
Liberal Sites More Sympathetic 
------------------------------ 
 
¶5.  Chinese postings on traditionally liberal websites such as 
microbloging platforms Fanfou and Twitter and forums such as Cat898 
were more sympathetic to Iranian protesters.  On these sites, 
netizens openly used the situation in Iran to comment on Chinese 
politics.  Postings on Fanfou included "Iran is not a democratic 
country [but it is still] more democratic than China," "the Iranian 
government isn't permitting foreign journalists to interview 
rioters, in this area, Iran is 20 years behind China" and "is 
today's Iran China twenty years ago?"  Another popular posting on 
Fanfou asked: "What if China erupted in protests? What role would 
Twitter, Fanfou, Kaixin001 (a social networking site) and Facebook 
play? What should be done if all these systems were "blocked" 
(weihule)?"  The posting then links to a Chinese article describing 
the role of individuals outside Iran in assisting Iranian protesters 
access foreign information and get their messages to the outside 
world after networking sites were blocked in Iran. 
 
 
 
PICCUTA