Under Chinese law, people who intentionally spread rumours or falsely report dangers, epidemics, disasters and police alerts, disrupting public order, can be detained for up to 10 days and fined up to 1,000 yuan (US$149).
Those found fabricating information on “false dangers”, epidemics, disasters or police and spreading them through social media networks may be jailed for up to three years. If “serious consequences” are caused, offenders face up to seven years’ jail.
EMBASSY REJECTS “FAKE NEWS”
Beijing’s efforts to counter misinformation have extended beyond casualty figures.
In a post last Thursday on social media platform X, the Chinese embassy in Nepal singled out two claims circulating online as “fake news”.
One alleged that China had failed to issue an early warning to Nepal, resulting in significant casualties on the Nepali side. The other claimed that the collapse of a geological disaster dam on the Chinese side of the border had caused major losses in Nepal.
The embassy rejected the claims, stressing that the disaster had “caused significant casualties” and left people missing on “both the Nepali and Chinese sides of the Gyirong-Rasuwagadhi border region”.
“Accusation helps nothing. Cooperation saves lives,” it wrote.
The embassy also posted a separate statement on Saturday evening, which it said was in response to comments in Nepali media and on online platforms “accusing China of failing to warn Nepal of the mudslide disaster”.
It cited findings by Chinese and international experts, showing that “risk points” in the Himalayan region are “highly dispersed”, and that routine ground surveys on high-altitude areas cannot be as comprehensive as those in low-altitude areas.
“Chinese expert teams have always made every effort, within the limits of existing technology, to conduct monitoring, assessment and analysis, and have shared important information with the Nepali side in a timely manner,” said the embassy.
Shortly before that, the embassy had shared and reproduced parts of a commentary by a Chinese expert published in Online Khabar, a Nepali news platform.
“Two countries are burying their dead together. This is the truth of Langtang Lirung,” Huang Yunsong, professor and associate dean at Sichuan University’s School of International Studies, said.
“Everything else – every rumour, every unverified claim, every attempt to turn grief into a geopolitical weapon – is noise the dead and the missing cannot afford.”
CHINA STEPS UP AID TO NEPAL
China has meanwhile stepped up emergency assistance to Nepal as rescue operations continue.
On Sunday, China’s ambassador to Nepal Zhang Maoming handed over US$2 million in emergency flood relief assistance from the Chinese government to the Nepali government.