Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Wife of Chinese ambassador, Nong Rong, beating her Pakistani domestic help in the middle of the road in Pakistan.
Fact
Nong Rong is not currently serving as the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, while Pakistani journalists have confirmed that no such incident was reported in any area from Pakistan.
Several social media users are circulating a video, claiming it shows the wife of Chinese ambassador, Nong Rong, beating her Pakistani domestic help in the middle of the Lahore market after she was caught drinking juice from the ambassador’s wife’s bottle, while she was busy shopping.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact Check
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Chinese ambassador wife assault”, which did not lead us to any credible news reports. We then ran a reverse image search of keyframes of the video, which led us to this Facebook video, dated May 31, 2023, stating that it was “video footage of a Chinese woman physically attacking a Pakistani lady in public without anyone intervening in the Punjab region”.
Taking a cue from this, we ran a relevant keyword search, which led us to news reports from multiple media outlets, including Hindustan Times, ABP Live, Zee News, on the alleged incident.
The HT report, dated June 1, 2023, called it an unverified video of a Chinese lady beating, dragging and humiliating a Pakistani woman in Pakistan that had gone viral. We came across multiple tweets from around that date, seen here and here, stating the same. None of them mention that the woman in the video is the Chinese ambassador’s wife.
Interestingly, we learnt that the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan named in the claims, Nong Rong, was appointed assistant minister of foreign affairs by China in February 2023.
“Nong, 56, was appointed Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan in 2020 and arrived in October that year as the 18th Chinese ambassador to the country…at a farewell reception on January 16 in Islamabad, Nong said that although he was leaving Pakistan, his heart would always be with the Pakistani people, read a Global Times report, dated February 8, 2023. A similar report and a tweet on Rong’s farewell reception can be seen here and here, confirming that he was not serving as the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan when the video had gone viral, both in July and in May.
We could not independently verify the origin and authenticity of the viral video, which led us to enquire with Pakistani journalists. Newschecker first reached out to Kamran Saqi, an investigative journalist based out of Pakistan, who deemed the claim as fake news, while also casting doubts on whether the video is of an incident in Pakistan.
“There is also a possibility that this could be a really old video, considering the vehicles seen in the background were a usual sight on our roads from 1998 (when it was launched) to 2002 and now, they are not seen anywhere, plus the fact they seemed to be in good condition in the video,” said Saqi.
We reached out to AB Arisar, journalist with Pakistani newspaper Dawn, who said, “No such incident happened or has been reported in any area of Pakistan,” while adding that people, journalists, and agencies are unaware of such an incident seen in the video.
Conclusion
No evidence was found to support the viral video claimed to show the wife of the Chinese ambassador assaulting her Pakistani domestic help in the middle of the road.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Hindustan Times report, June 1, 2023
Conversation with AB Arisar, journalist with Dawn
Conversation with Kamran Saqi, investigative journalist
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
