A striking phenomenon is emerging from China as the Middle East conflict presses on: technically skilled civilians are volunteering their expertise online to help Iran counter US military might, without seeking payment or official backing.
The trend was vividly illustrated on March 14, when a detailed tutorial on taking down America’s F-35 appeared on Chinese social media and went viral.
Created by the account “Laohu Talks World” and subtitled in Persian, the video meticulously explained how Iran could use its low-cost systems to target and destroy the advanced stealth fighter.
It drew tens of millions of views. Five days after the post, on March 19, Iran claimed it had struck a US F-35.
The effort to help has hardly been isolated since the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.
Across Chinese social media, many people with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) have created and shared content aimed at helping Iran’s war effort. Some appear to possess expert knowledge of military equipment.
