UK media: Japan pays British think tank to wage 'PR war' on China

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Japan has been paying 10,000 pounds per month to a British think tank to hype up the so-called "China threat" among British high-level politicians, UK media reported Sunday.

"Rifkind a stooge in secret PR war on China," a detailed report carried out by The Sunday Times on January 29, said that the Japanese Embassy in London has a deal with the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a registered charity, to wage a propaganda campaign against China.

A cartoon shows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe drawing "China threat” on the wall while lifting a torch carved "pacifist constitution". /CFP Photo

It said that the deal was reached "in response to growing cooperation between China and Britain."

Former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind has admitted that the HJS, founded in 2005, had asked him to put his name on a Daily Telegraph article published last August, voicing fears over China's involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear plant deal. He however denied any knowledge of the relationship between the HJS and the Japanese embassy.

Screenshot from The Telegraph article‍

The Telegraph article from August 16, 2016, titled "How China could switch off Britain's lights in a crisis if we let them build Hinkley C", raised fears that "no one knows what 'blackdoor' technologies might be able to be introduced into the building of a power plant."

The Sunday Times said Japan's secret PR war on China reflects Tokyo's concerns about the "golden decade" of Sino-British cooperation. The article cites sources who claim that the embassy and the HSJ have been working together since last year, on a contract that is up for renewal in April.

(With inputs from Xinhua)