When the US-Iran tensions were still sluggish after the killing of Soleimani, the two countries erupted into a heated battle on the new front: Chinese social networks.

The US and Iranian embassies in Beijing recently posted a kind of anti-Chinese post on Chinese social network Weibo, under the watchful eye of hundreds of millions of Chinese Internet users. They accused each other of inciting violence, calling them terrorists.

The US embassy accused Iran of "leaving blood stains everywhere", while the Iranian embassy condemned the US strike on the killing of General Qassem Soleimani on January 3 and vowed to kill "demonic forces." of America in West Asia. "

The battle between the two "rivals" makes Chinese social network users excited. In China, diplomatic disputes rarely occur in public and the government often censors political posts.

The controversy came as Washington was pressuring U.S. technology companies to censor content of groups it identified as terrorist organizations. Facebook is censoring a number of posts in support of Iran, including on the Instagram platform. The company said it is obligated to review a number of posts to comply with US sanctions.

Meanwhile, Iran has for years sought to block the flow of information from the West by blocking Facebook, Twitter and other social networks with its users.

Chinese news agencies closely covered the brawl of the US-Iran embassy, describing Weibo as a "new battlefield" between the two countries. The keyword "verbal war on Weibo" attracted more than 1.5 million views on January 16.

The Chinese government has one of the strictest censorship systems in the world, regularly blocking Internet posts deemed politically sensitive. Foreign diplomats' posts are also censored, especially on topics such as North Korea or human rights.

But Beijing still lets the war between the United States and Iran continue to unfold on Weibo, possibly because it attracts a great deal of public opinion, making the public less aware of its internal problems, Analyst review.

"Any topic that distracts the public, not paying attention to internal Chinese issues, is beneficial for Beijing," said Fergus Ryan, an analyst at the Strategic Policy Institute Australia. "This is a case of Beijing benefiting when Iran and the US argue."

Many Chinese netizens took advantage of the occasion to criticize the US as "imperialist", praising Weibo for not interfering with their posts, while Facebook censored some.

The US embassy's Weibo account, with more than 2.6 million followers, said it supported the debate. "We welcome discussions and debates, both supporting and criticizing US policy," the US embassy stated.

The Iranian Embassy, with more than 300,000 followers on Weibo, did not comment.

China and Iran have been promoting relations in recent years, especially as US sanctions have increased economic pressure on Tehran. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif visited Beijing in late December 2019, just days before Generalimimani was killed by the US. At a meeting with Zarif, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi criticized foreign "bullying", comments considered to be directed against the United States.

In the Weibo posts, the Iranian embassy tried to win over Chinese netizens, thank them for their support and even invited them to Iran during the upcoming New Year holiday. "Safety is not a problem," they wrote.

Experts say that Iran wants to be well received and welcomed by the Chinese public. "China has provided Iran with very important economic and political lifelines in recent years, when US sanctions have strangled the country," said Hongying Wang, professor of political science at the University of Waterloo. , Canada said.

"Positive feedback from the Chinese public can help the Iranian authorities beautify the image in the eyes of their own people," she added.