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  • 2022-02-19 (xsd:date)
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  • Posts make misleading comparison of African countries competing at the Olympics (en)
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  • Multiple Chinese-language social media posts claim more African countries competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics than the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The posts shared a photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping with a group of African representatives alongside a photo of his predecessor Hu Jintao with a diverse group of world leaders. The claim is misleading; just five African countries have competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics, while more than fifty African countries took part in the 2008 Summer Olympics. The claim was shared here on Twitter on February 10, 2022. The photo on the left-hand side shows former Chinese president Hu Jintao with a group of world leaders. The other photo shows current Chinese President Xi Jinping with African leaders. 2008 vs 2022 Winter Olympics: Do you feel that it has changed a lot?! A group of African countries where it doesn't snow came to participate in the Winter Olympics! Wonderful! reads the simplified-Chinese tweet. A screenshot, taken on February 14, 2022, of the misleading post. The same photos were shared alongside a similar claim on Twitter here and here . But the claim is misleading: there are actually fewer African countries competing in this year's Winter Olympics than participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Six athletes representing five African countries have competed in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The represented countries were Eritrea, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, and Nigeria. However, in 2008, athletes representing 52 African countries participated in the Summer Olympics -- as seen in the opening ceremony and Chinese state media reports . Misrepresented photo The posts misleadingly shared a photo of Xi Jinping that was not taken at the 2022 Winter Olympics. A reverse image search on Google found the photo in a report from September 4, 2018 by Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua. The headline of the Chinese-language news report translates to English as: The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held a roundtable meeting and Xi Jinping chaired the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Beijing Action Plan. Below is a screenshot comparison of the second photo in the misleading posts (left) and Xinhua's photo (right): A screenshot comparison of the second photo in the misleading post (left) and the Xinhua's photo (right). Xi hosted a summit with African leaders to include a new $60 billion aid pledge for the continent. World leaders image The photo of Hu with world leaders was genuinely taken at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. A reverse image search found the photo published in a report by Chinese state-run broadcaster CCTV. It was captioned: Chinese President Hu Jintao, together with world dignitaries, enters the banquet hall in the Great Hall of the People for a grand welcoming luncheon, Beijing, China, Aug. 8, 2008. The opening ceremony for the Games was held the same evening at the Bird's Nest stadium. (en)
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