In February 2023, US military forces shot down a Chinese balloon roaming the US airspace. While China stated that the balloon was for climate research purposes, the US accused it was for spying on the USA. Despite uncertainty about the actual situation behind the scene, there have been many social media posts based on this incident. There are posts based on a map which try to say there are a
lot of US military bases surrounding China. So, we did an investigation into the issue.
Social Media Posts
There is a viral Twitter post that tries to imply that the US has military bases in nearby countries of China.
Below is a viral Tweet.
Users commented on it like below.
We detected the same content being shared on Facebook a few months ago.
We decided to do a fact-check on this.
Fact Check
In the beginning, we tried to find, according to this map, where the US overseas military bases were located near China-mainland.
Although the map could be more precise, we could find a few countries they mentioned on the map. Below is the list.
Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Japan and Australia
We checked about this.
Some countries in the marked points of the map don`t have US military bases. For example, Thailand does not have US military base. The Factcrescendo team in Thailand confirmed it. There were rumours about establishing US military bases in Thailand. But Thailand’s military denies it. News about that can be read here.
As for Myanmar, Hong Kong and the Philippines, we haven’t found any information supporting the claim that they have US military bases in their countries.
Brunei also does not have US military base. However, there is a presence of Singapore and British forces in Brunei. Details about it can be read here.
And also, Cambodia does not have US military bases. FactCrescendo Cambodia team confirmed. However, there is a controversy about establishing a Chinese military base in Cambodia. Details about it can be read here.
However, Australia has US military base. Details about it can be read here.
Japan has US military bases, and its details can be read here.
Singapore also has US military base.
According to the above information, it`s clear that the marked points of the image do not precisely depict the US military bases located nearby countries of China.
How about the spread of US military bases around the world? We searched about that also.
The places where US military bases are located can be seen on the official website of the US defence department. It can be reached here. (Archived.) According to it, the leading countries where US military bases are now below.
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Conclusion
Many countries marked on the map don`t have US military bases. But, yes, some countries have US military bases. To a certain extent, nearby countries of China indeed have US military forces in their land. However, the majority of the countries marked on the map do not have US military bases in their countries.
Title:Misleading map being shared as US military bases around China!
Written By: Kalana KrishanthaResult: Misleading
