China Believed Trying to Manipulate Japanese Public Opinion via Online Petition

Cynthia Yumiko Staub and Takaaki Suzuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

16:03 JST, February 18, 2025

China is believed to be working to sway Japanese public opinion against Japanese government policies by taking advantage of online petitions organized by citizens groups, according to an analysis by a foreign research organization.

Among the social media posts urging people to support an online petition against the discharge of treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, there is a post with characteristics strongly suggestive of a Chinese effort to manipulate opinion.

It fits a pattern similar to that seen with an account identified by a social media operator as aiming “to manipulate public opinion by the Chinese state.”

Experts believe such manipulations are intended to foster division in the country by increasing the number of signatures opposing Japan’s policies.

The call for signatures opposing the discharge of the treated water was initiated on social media in August 2023.

Another case that appears to have been used to manipulate public opinion is a call for signatures, launched in May 2019, to oppose the Self-Defense Forces’ strengthening of defense capabilities in the Nansei Islands.

Both petitions were initiated domestically by Japanese citizens groups on the online petition site Change.org.

A Chinese state-affiliated organization is believed to be working to manipulate public opinion in Japan by spreading false information and posts in favor of China on social media.

Social media operators monitor such posts and have deleted and publicly identified accounts deemed to be used “to manipulate public opinion by the state.”

The Yomiuri Shimbun asked the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), an expert on China’s manipulation of public opinion, to analyze a total of 1,176 accounts confirmed to have posted links to the two petition sites soliciting signatures as of January 2024.

The ASPI concluded that four of the accounts using social media X were strongly suspected being used to manipulate public opinion, pointing out the similarities between these accounts and other accounts known to engage in public opinion manipulation.

The accounts had the following points in common: They spread the same news articles and posts; they attacked Chinese dissidents who criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping and others; and they spread posts by Chinese diplomats.

The Yomiuri Shimbun also had different research organizations analyze the four accounts.

Taiwan cybersecurity company TeamT5 Inc. also determined that there is a strong suspicion that the Chinese government is involved to a certain extent.

A researcher at a Canadian research organization, the Citizen Lab, said that the posts were likely to have been made systematically, as the content of the posts focused on Japan and its diplomatic relations, and there was no information in the profile section that could identify an actual person behind the accounts, such as their name or place of residence.

One of the four accounts posted links to websites opposing the release of treated water four times in 2023.

“The petition drive was conducted for reasons such as that ‘the release of treated water has not been accepted by the public.’ We are upset if the website was used to manipulate public opinion,” said an official at the Fukushima Fukko Kyodo Center in Fukushima, which posted the petition about the treated water release.

It collected a total of about 150,000 signatures, which were submitted to then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August 2023 and February 2024.

The remaining three accounts posted links to websites opposing the strengthening of Japan’s defense capabilities a total of nine times between 2022 and 2023.

According to a citizens’ group in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, which organized the petition drive, it collected about 7,000 signatures, but has not submitted them to the government or other organizations.

Although the four accounts have few followers and the impact on the number of signatures is believed to be limited, ASPI pointed out that this kind of tactic could be used in the future to stir up public distrust against the government.

In recent years, China has been stepping up its efforts to influence public opinion in other countries through social media.

Ahead of the U.S. presidential election last November, X accounts and others believed to be used by China to manipulate public opinion posted content disparaging the candidates and casting doubt on the legitimacy of the U.S. election, according to U.S. research firm Graphika Inc.

They were also active in posting on controversial topics such as gun control and homelessness.

According to Prof. Maiko Ichihara of Hitotsubashi University, who specializes in international politics and is an expert on the manipulation of public opinion, there are often posts on topics that are controversial in Japan.

“China appears to be targeting divisive topics and aiming to further widen divides,” Ichihara said.