Image circulates with false claims of Trump's plan to bomb Scarborough Shoal
The image actually shows a Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper from 1941, published during World War II.
AFP – An image has been shared in multiple Twitter and Weibo posts that claim that it shows Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reporting in late July 2020 that US President Donald Trump planned to bomb an island in the South China Sea. The claim is false; the image actually shows a Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper from December 1941, published during World War II.
The image was published on Twitter on July 29, 2020. It shows the front page of a Yomiuri Shimbun edition and includes a WeChat watermark at the bottom right.
The first paragraph of the post’s simplified Chinese-caption reads in English: “In the early morning of July 29, Japan’s ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ revealed a shocking secret. Trump had secretly planned to bomb ‘Huangyan Island’ on July 12.”
Huangyan Island, also known as Scarborough Shoal, is an island in the South China Sea.
The post circulated amid heightened tensions between the US and China over a number of issues including the South China Sea, as reported by AFP.
The image of the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper was also shared alongside similar claims on Twitter, on Weibo, and in various articles.
The claim, however, is false.
At the top right side of the front page, the newspaper is dated in both Japanese and Chinese: “December 9, Showa 16”.
Showa 16 is a year in the Japanese calendar that corresponds to the year 1941 on the Gregorian calendar.
