UPI Nov. 19 (UPI) — A leading Korean War historian in China has had his online lectures suspended after he allegedly expressed an opinion about the conflict that contradicts official narratives, reports say.
Hong Kong-based news service HK01 reported Shen Zhihua, a Chinese historian at East China Normal University, had been conducting lectures on the socialist model of the Soviet Union. The lecture was taken offline on Nov. 5 from Chinese video platform Bilibili after viewers issued a complaint, according to the report.
The suspension came after one commenter said the professor was defending ideas that “denied” the claims Chinese leader Xi Jinping made in an October speech about China’s entry into the Korean War.
The history department of Capital Normal University in Beijing, the school hosting Shen’s lectures, said in a written statement Shen’s webinar was canceled due to a report of “malicious” content.
“We deeply apologize for stopping the lectures,” the school said.
In his speech commemorating the 70th anniversary of China’s involvement in the war, Xi said, “The forces of China and North Korea defeated their armed-to-teeth rival and shattered the myth of invincibility of the U.S. army.” China delivered a blow to Western “imperialism,” Xi said.
Shen has been vocal about China’s relationship with the two Koreas. In 2017, Shen said China should rethink its decades-long support for North Korea, and draw closer to the South, a U.S. ally.
“In foreign policy, economics, politics, everything, the interests of China and North Korea had diverged, and the basis for an alliance had disintegrated. The treaty of alliance between China and North Korea became a piece of scrap paper,” Shen said a year before Xi would meet with Kim Jong Un in their first summit.
China has become more outspoken on the world stage, targeting U.S. allies like Australia.
A Chinese diplomat in Canberra recently released a document to Australian journalists outlining “14 grievances” against the Australian government. China accused Australia of “poisoning bilateral relations,” Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
