Chinese Defense Ministry's "warning" to U.S. over Hormuz strait fake news

As the United States moved to block the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, several high-profile posts on X started circulating a claim saying that the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) told the Pentagon that Chinese ships intend to continue operating in the strait.

I reached out to an authoritative source in the know to see if these claims hold any water, and the prompt reply was that these are, in fact, fake news.

I’ll also share a few tips on how to identify fake China news.

The claim went something like this:

According to this X post from @hormuzletter:

BREAKING: In a direct message to the Trump administration and the US Navy, China’s Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun says Chinese ships will continue transiting the Strait of Hormuz through agreements with Iran, and warns the US not to “meddle in our affairs.”

Also from Dong’s statement:

1. Says Chinese ships are currently “moving in and out of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz”

2. Confirms China has existing “trade and energy agreements with Iran” that China will “respect and honor”

3. Explicitly states: “Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and it is open for us,” recognizing Iranian sovereignty over transit

In another similar post, @En_chinaNews says

CHINA BACKS IRAN

“We are commited for peace & stability in the world. We are monitoring the situation in the middle east. Our ships are moving in and out of the waters of Strait of Hormuz. We have trade & energy agreements with Iran. We will respect & honour them and expect others to not meddle in our affairs. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and it is open for us.”- China’s Minister of Defence Admiral Dong Jun

There are many others who recycled this claim, and I can’t provide an exhaustive list of all of them. Together, these posts have garnered millions of views, and what’s more worrying is that there’s evidence that they’ve been picked up by AI as good information sources, as shown in the screenshot below.

All of the above are fake. Unfortunately, these posts have misled many web users, including China hands.

While I agree that there is a responsibility for official Chinese sources to timely identify and debunk China-related fake news, there are actually a few telltale signs that these posts are fake.

First, see if this information comes from official Chinese sources. Official Chinese news and statements always come from an official source, such as a government website/Wechat account, or official news outlets, such as Xinhua/CMG/People’s Daily etc. If the information cannot be found among those sources, take it with a pinch of salt.

Second, the Chinese official language is uniquely styled, and these posts’ language style is very different from the official Chinese language style.

Third, China has always been very diplomatic in dealing with other countries and is not in the habit of issuing explicit stern warnings, especially publicly. China considers its relations with the U.S. to be one of the most consequential, and therefore is even less likely to be “telling the U.S. off“ in such a manner.