Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Chinese Premier Li Qiang perplexed over lack of peace in Nepal
Fact
Remarks made by Premier Li during Boao Forum falsely linked with Nepal
A video claiming that Chinese Premier Li Qiang expressed his surprise that there is no peace in the country [Nepal] where the apostle of peace [Gautam Buddha] was born. Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
TikTok user @vknepalofficial posted a five-second video showing Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Why is there no peace in the country [Nepal] where the apostle of peace [Buddha] was born? China. Premier’s warning.” The text is alluding to Buddha as the apostle of peace and Nepal where he was born. An incomplete audio accompanying the video presented in a news bulletin-style is heard saying, “Chinese Premier Li has warned. He added that China will continue its effort to build world peace and development.” The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
The video posted on April 1 has garnered 167 likes and five people have commented on it.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker looked up news of recent statements related to world peace and development by Chinese Premier Li Qiang. We found a news article titled ‘China’s premier warns against chaos and conflicts in Asia’ published on Aljazeera online on 30 March. The news quotes Li on his statement about peace and development in the world.
“In this uncertain world, the certainty China offers is an anchor for world peace and development,” the news quoted Li as telling the annual Boao Forum for Asia on China’s Hainan Island. “This was the case in the past and will remain so in the future.” However, nowhere did we find him mentioning about Nepal or the country where the apostle of peace was born.
Further, we analysed the video and noticed a Nepali text ‘FataFat’ scrolling on the lower portion of the screen. This pointed us towards the FataFat News bulletin of News24 Television. Taking it as a clue, we looked for the recent edition of the News Fatafat and thoroughly listened to the bulletin. On checking a video posted on March 30 2023, we found that the audio and video of the bulletin from 3 minute 35 seconds onwards exactly matched the viral video.
Our investigation showed that the news about Chinese Premier Li’s remarks about world peace was falsely linked with the political turmoil in Nepal, and that Li has not spoken about the country which gave birth to a messenger or apostle of peace during this speech at Boao Forum for Asia.
Conclusion
The viral video claiming that Chinese Premier Li has expressed his surprise about the political conflict in Nepal where the apostle of peace was born is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
News24 Afternoon News Fatafat, 30 March 2023
Aljazeera.com,30 March 2023
If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, email us at [email protected] You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form.
Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
