Chinese social media posts falsely claim German right-wing leader praises China

Yahoo

18 hours ago

China's former consul general to Belfast Zhang Meifang shared the 13-second clip of Weidel speaking in German on her account on X on May 21, 2025.
"Co-chairwoman of Germany's AfD Weidel said only China's strength can defeat the United States' arrogance and force it sit down and negotiate!" its caption says.
"Throughout history, the United States has only sat down for equal negotiations twice -- once during the Korean War, and again during the trade war. China was on the other side of the negotiations both times."
Simplified Chinese text overlaid on the clip largely repeats the claim.
The post appeared alongside a tide of false claims about the trade war between Washington and Beijing circulating online, which were amplified by Chinese state media outlets (archived link).
The two sides announced a truce on May 12 that halted tit-for-tat tariffs announced since President Donald Trump's return to the White House, with a further "framework" agreement reached on June 10 (archived link). China would supply rare earth minerals to the United States, which in turn would allow Chinese students to remain in US universities.
Posts suggesting Weidel spoke about the trade war were shared elsewhere on X, TikTok and Weibo.
Social media users appeared to believe the circulating claim, with one saying, "She is the guiding light of Germany".
Another wrote, "Such an outspoken woman!"
Despite having lived and worked in China, Weidel rarely publicly comments on the country (archived link). However, her subtitled speeches circulate widely on Chinese social media, with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle attributing her popularity to AfD and Beijing having similar stances on issues such as European military aid for Ukraine (archived link).
The circulating video in fact shows Weidel criticising the German government, not praising China.
A reverse image search found the clip was taken from a livestream of her speech at an AfD rally in Thuringia on August 31, 2024, a month before regional elections in Germany (archived link).
During her remarks, she called the government's deportation of 28 Afghan nationals -- who German authorities said were "convicted offenders" with no right to remain -- a day before the AfD rally a "gimmick" (archived link).
The false clip can be seen at the 55:04 mark of the livestream, where she went on to say, "Nothing is achieved. It should be up to a thousand people, not just 28."
She did not mention China during the speech.
German media reported Weidel told rally-goers that AfD would "ban Antifa as a terrorist organisation" if her party came to power during her speech (archived link).