Thread by @ZichenWanghere, A LONG THREADexamining whether @australian @abcnews @DailyMailAU 's recent reports of some [...]

A LONG THREAD
examining whether @australian @abcnews @DailyMailAU 's recent reports of some "leaked" documents are probably carrying water for behind-the-scenes security/intelligence agencies, in the process slanting China and failing self-professed journalism standards
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Before we start: this is a personal account where all views are personal, NOT representative of my day-job employer.

The content in this thread all comes from OPEN-SOURCED INFO and personal observation, NOT directed by anybody else.

I could very well be wrong!

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Feb 4, @australian @abcnews @DailyMailAU simultaneously published reports, citing "leaked" documents, saying an HK-registered company wrote in 2020 to Papua New Guinea govt proposing building a $39 bln city, nearing the Down Under. @australian ran an editorial next morning
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The content of the three reports from three outlets are identical, and they released them around the same time, so it's apparent they all got debriefed from one single source, who, with the consent of @australian @abcnews @DailyMailAU, chose to remain behind the scenes.
4/

Read the reports for yourself
@DailyMailAU : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9225393/Inside-Chinas-bold-plan-build-39BILLION-city-Australias-doorstep.html

@abcnews : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/chinese-company-plans-to-build-city-on-png-island-near-australia/13123698

@australian (paywalled, so I asked a friend to copy & paste it for me) https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/china-dangles-39bn-carrot-to-build-city-on-our-doorstep/news-story/0c8b1219fb3db6d51a5a8d95e224f50b

@australian editorial (not paywalled): https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/belt-and-road-brings-china-to-png-and-our-doorstep/news-story/f4404e998060acf78377d76ba03936fd

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Belt and Road brings China to our doorstep

An offer by a Chinese government-backed company to build a US30bn 39.3bn city in one of the most impoverished areas of Papua New Guinea appears to be a classic case of debt-trap diplomacy. But...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9225393/Inside-Chinas-bold-plan-build-39BILLION-city-Australias-doorstep.html

None revealed their source, nor the entirety of the "leaked" documents - just selected bits.
This effectively builds a narrative that can hardly be disputed & makes holding the real source accountable and third-party fact-checking hugely difficult, if not impossible.
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To be sure, the approach is neither totally unacceptable nor unprecedented, especially in Western NatSec/intelligence journalism.
But the point is they SHALL do their job in accordance w/ self-professed journalism standards; otherwise - just mouthpieces for their sources
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If just printing whatever their hidden source told them to without also detailing in their published reports what steps they have taken to fact-check, further establish, confirm or BALANCE the info they've been fed, they don't get to claim neutral/independent/fair/professional
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Let's examine the "leaked" documents, AS REPORTED:
a little-known HK-registered company and its 2 leaders wrote to PNG govt proposing a $39 bln plan in building a city via BOT.
The company also claimed to have similar experiences in Myanmar's New Yangoon City and Pakistan.
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Based on those vague/ambiguous if not wild "leaks" what are further REPORTED?
"China dangles $39bn carrot to build city on our doorstep"
"China's secret plans to build a $39billion city on Australia's doorstep"
"Beijing-backed WYW Holding Limited is behind the controversial"
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2 core Questions in the narratives:

a) why does the $39 bln investment plan mentioned in two "leaked" letters need to be taken seriously? Is the number even nearly practical? Is the company even remotely capable? Could it be a hyped scam?
b) what links it with China/Beijing?
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There's ZERO language in the reports indicating the media outlets had taken even the minimal step to explore the core questions - none, nada.
They just take the "leaked" info for granted - "facts" not needing checks/confirmations. In failing their job, they became mouthpieces
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@abcnews appears more restrained/professional than @australian , making it clear the reported credentials of the HK company are from the company itself
@australian didn't. So did it, by itself, establish the claim by doing basic journalism job? no language suggested that
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absent language indicating the media outlets themselves have performed due diligence to check the HK company (how much money does it have? did it have a REAL record as it claimed, per the leaks? is it capable? is the $39 bln plan remotely plausible?), what's their role here?

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Now what's the evidence that the HK company, as reported per the leaks, speaks/acts on behalf of Beijing/China govt/Belt and Road?
Is that what the secret source told them? Did they check by themselves and present their own confirmation?
Again, can't find any word for that.
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It's simply not public knowledge that the HK company is a representative of Beijing/China govt/Belt and Road. And the $39 bln proposal is on its surface wild.

Don't take it from me, take it from two Aussie experts, including one from @ASPI_org : even they call it "obscure"

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Now, I DON'T know if the HK company acts/speaks on behalf of Beijing/China govt/Belt and Road, but the burden of minimal proof is NOT on me, but on @australian @DailyMailAU , which in effect chose to faithfully propagate messages from their secret source without any scrutiny

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Not establishing any of the facts by itself, at least according to the words in its own "news" report, and relying solely on the secret source that mouth-fed the info, @australian published an editorial blasting China.

who's the mouthpiece here? and for whom?

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More laughable is some media reports can't even agree on the name of the CEO of the HK-based company purportedly making the $39 bln offer

@abcnews, @guardian, and @VICENews say it's Terence Mo

@australian says it's Terrance Mo

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Anyone with Internet and a credit card can check HK company register ONLINE. If those media are nearly as competent, they could add, on their own, a few self-discovered facts such as the CEO's full name and its share capital
(other info redacted to protect privacy)
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I'm not done here.
Sent the 20-tweet thread just in case I accidently lose it again (spent quite some time writing it last night but somehow lost it).

On the very day Feb. 4 of the first reports, @ASPI_org apparently has an expert with a 10-paragraph analysis published almost immediately on @australian - either extremely competent or well-prepared.
@DailyMailAU also used the quote.
https://www.aspi.org.au/opinion/papua-new-guinea-offer-stalking-horse-china

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This actually speaks to my point:
"A 39$ bln proposal from an obscure HK-based company..in a remote province..a Nigerian Princess-type scam on steroids"
But has it been established by the media that reported it?
Or do they just faithfully propagate it for the hidden source?

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A more interesting for me personally, who is the source here?

In all likelihoods, the national security/intelligence apparatus
if not the "national security analysts" as hinted by the wording of @DailyMailAU .

Is the source working for the govt or has its own agenda?

23/

Australian PM Morrison later dismissed the media reports as "speculative" and compared it to "just people flying some kites and I’m not going to overreact to the noise that is flying around out there.”

I'm just curious who is flying the kites and making the noise?

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for what is worth, @abcnews appears much more restrained and professional than @australian @DailyMailAU
using only the terms like "the Chinese company" and adding "has contacted WYW Holding and AA Oil and Gas but had not heard back at the time..." https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/chinese-company-plans-to-build-city-on-png-island-near-australia/13123698

Chinese company's multi-billion-dollar plan for island just off Australian mainland

A Chinese company puts forward a multi-billion-dollar plan to build a new city on the Papua New Guinean island of Daru, which sits on the sea border with Australia.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-05/chinese-company-plans-to-build-city-on-png-island-near-australia/13123698

Again, I don't know if the reported "leaked" letters are true, or anything about the reported initiator "WYW Holding" and Directors Mo and Ng
The burden of basic journalism is on the media outlets that publish the leaked accounts, which imo didn't meet the burden at all

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The burden is elevated b/c the reported HK company and their Directors are simply unknown to the world, they in 2020 made a $39 bln (come on, $39 bln!) offer to build a city, AND they are alleged to act on behalf of Beijing/China govt.
None of which is proved or verifiable.

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I personally sense an increasingly evident pattern in the NatSec/Intel beat of Western newsrooms, where anonymity is more leniently granted and "leaks" unscrutinized, probably to facilitate "scoops." That's been made easier by the "consensus" that China is a huge threat
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In the eyes of many Chinese, that's just ever more evidence of sophisticated coordination/cooperation between the Western newsrooms and the NatSec/Intel apparatus hyping a "China threat."

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I guess this thread officially marks my entry into the Australian China Twitter.

Good night.

30/ENDS

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