Norwegian military drills use civilian rental cars, fail to disable dashcams, then accuse China of "espionage"
Western actors continue to fabricate absurd rumors to smear China, and once again, it is Norway that has stepped forward with another baseless claim.
Here’s the situation: In mid-September, Norway conducted a military exercise. Due to insufficient military vehicles, the Norwegian armed forces had to rent civilian cars from rental companies—among them several made by Chinese brands.
One month after the exercise concluded, anonymous sources within the Norwegian military suddenly emerged, amplifying claims that Chinese-made vehicles had recorded the drill. They asserted with apparent seriousness that passwords entered by soldiers at the gate of a military base were captured by dashcams.
This narrative, repeatedly amplified by Norwegian media outlets, was eventually distorted into an allegation that Chinese enterprises attempted to steal Norwegian military secrets.
To be clear, the entire episode is preposterous. That Norway’s military is so under-resourced as to resort to renting civilian vehicles for exercises speaks volumes about its preparedness. The fact that they failed to disable dashcams on rented vehicles demonstrates a lack of basic operational discipline. And rather than reflecting on their own oversight, Norwegian officials immediately sought to deflect blame onto China—a sequence of actions that is both reckless and disingenuous. With such conduct, one might question whether Norway should even be conducting military exercises at all—perhaps it should first learn how to turn off a dashcam.
This incident reveals the underlying pattern in Western narratives toward China: whenever mistakes are made, the instinctive response is to seek ways to shift blame onto China, regardless of context. Any event can be reinterpreted through the lens of “national security threatened by China.”
The implausibility of the fabricated story has drawn ridicule even from international online observers. On comment sections, users pointed out the irony: it is akin to someone using a Chinese-branded smartphone to take a selfie, then accusing China of “spying” on them.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1879008437165196/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.