Why Is Nicolas Cage Featured in Ads for the Chinese Army?

Last weekend, users of the Chinese social media platform Weibo noticed a military propaganda video, which included several scenes from famous Hollywood movies, such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Hurt Locker, and The Rock.

The short video posted by the official account of the People’s Liberation Army was entitled "God of War H-6K, Attack" and fantasized bombing the US Pacific island territory Guam using H-6K bombers.

Soon after the video was released on Weibo, users noted that the propaganda video meant to show off the growing abilities of the Chinese army includes several scenes from Hollywood blockbuster movies.

Commenting on the video, social media users mocked the Chinese video and considered it a "full of lies propaganda production," saying that even when China is trying to send threatening messages to its enemies, it resorts to using Hollywood productions instead of real footage showing what the Chinese army is really capable of.

In recent years, the Chinese government has been using its own social media platforms not only to monitor and surveil its own population but to also send political messages to rival countries such as the US and India.

Over the last few months, the Chinese-Indian borders have witnessed several armed clashes near the Indian Ladakh region, which has resulted in a number of causalities and an Indian massive ban on Chinese owned smartphone apps.