Chinese and US flags flutter outside the building of an American company in Beijing, Jan 21, 2021. Photo/Agencies

What film star would give up their career in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to become a policeman in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region?

If a database is to be believed, then Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau Tak-wah, whose films, songs and TV series are world famous.

On Jan 6, an entity called "Xinjiang Victims Database" posted on its Twitter handle what it claimed was a list of over 2,000 Urumqi police officers who it blamed for "thousands of documented victims". Yet among the mugshots, were those of stars such as Chow and Andy.

The propaganda fell flat only because Chow and Lau are too famous for anyone to miss them. That leaves one in no doubt that many of the other photographs must also be fake.

The handle even claimed that "Another 8,000+ have been added but remain invisible as they have not been linked to anyone". One wonders as to how they got the photographs. After all, it does not look like a rumor anymore, but a lie being spread intentionally.

After the tweet became viral as a joke, the handle disabled the comments zone, letting only a few handles it follows to reply.

The lies don't come for free. The database claims its efforts are crowd funded trough social networking sites, but it is hard to imagine anyone with a rational mind wanting to fund such a group. Without a doubt organizations of its kind are spreading lies about China to gain influence so that the West can support them for political reasons against China.

The management teams of such funding groups, of which the US-based National Endowment for Democracy is a typical example, are either too foolish to believe the lies or just evil enough to join them in spreading lies. Their money comes from the US government, which in turn comes from taxpayers in the United States.

Don't waste US taxpayers' money on such evil and foolish deeds.