Viral Screenshot Of Chinese Diplomat’s ‘X Post’ Threatening India Over Suspending Indus Water Treaty Is Fabricated

A purported screenshot of an X post by Lijian Zhao, senior Chinese diplomat and former spokesperson of the country’s foreign ministry, where he allegedly warned that China will block the Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers flowing into India if it does not restore the Indus Water Treaty, is going viral on social media. A couple of days after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, India has reportedly doubled down on its decision to indefinitely suspend the treaty, a water-distribution agreement between India and Pakistan, formally notifying that it comes into effect immediately citing sustained terror amid other reasons.

The archived version of the post can be seen here, which has clocked 77K views so far.

Fact Check

Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Lijian Zhao tweet Brahmaputra”, which did not lead us to any credible news report about such a statement. We learnt that the Chinese ambassador to India expressed shock over the attack in Pahalgam that left 26, mostly tourists, dead, while China’s foreign ministry offered “sincere sympathies” over the attack on tourists in Pahalgam.

Newschecker looked up the official X account of Zhao, where we found that his last post was on August 1, 2024. We also looked up Zhao’s account on Chinese social media site Weibo, where we did not find any such post, further raising our doubts.

On a closer look at the viral screenshot of the purported X post we found certain discrepancies, such as the lack of verification badge next to the username, along with the absence of the number of views on the post and bookmarks, usual features of a post on the social media platform. Also, X, which was formerly Twitter, now uses the words “reposts” and “quotes”, instead of “retweets” and “quote tweets”, as seen in the viral screenshot, further proving that it is fake.

Comparison of the viral screenshot (left) and an X post from Zhao’s official account (right).

We came across tweetgen.com, an online tweet generator, which allows one to create fake screenshots of non-existent posts. This (below) was what we got after we entered some of the text from the viral screenshot in the specified fields of the online tool, indicating that the viral tweet was likely generated using the same or a similar tool.

Also Read: Pahalgam Attack: Nation In Mourning Faces Fresh Wounds From AI-Driven Media

Conclusion

The screenshot, allegedly showing a Chinese diplomat threatening Indian on X over the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, is fabricated.