American political commentator and live-streamer Hasan Piker has stirred controversy during his ongoing trip to China, with a viral encounter in Tiananmen Square and remarks that critics say amount to promoting Chinese propaganda.
On Monday, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China’s embassy in Washington, shared on X (formerly Twitter) an interview Piker did with state-run China Global Television Network last week, writing: “Real reason why mega #US influencer Hasan Piker is in #China.”
In the interview, Piker, who has 1.6 million followers on X, said he wanted to visit China because “there’s a lot of rumours about China. There’s a lot of misunderstanding, and also just outright lies. And it’s just another normal country like every other country is”.
The 34-year-old self-described socialist added that visiting China was a “dream come true” and that he wanted to see what the US can “adopt and emulate” from the country.
The comments drew backlash. Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, criticised Piker on X for “attempting to normalise the Chinese Communist Party.”
“He’s holding it up as something for America to emulate. Disgusting, and un-American. Also, entirely unsurprising,” Sobolik wrote on November 13.
