China is harnessing AI-driven disinformation to recast itself as an ancient Muslim civilisation and a steadfast ally to the Islamic world, flooding Indonesian social media with pseudo-historical myths and staged humanitarian “feel-good” videos. These slick, fabricated narratives blend kernels of truth with political strategy, subtly boosting China’s image while shaping local debates over identity, power, and economic interests in Indonesia.
China is using AI-powered social media posts to rewrite Islamic history in order to boost its image in Indonesia. In April and May 2025, Indonesian online platforms saw an influx of AI-generated videos about the supposed discovery of ancient Islamic tombs under the Great Wall of China. The recurring hoax presented China as an ancient Muslim civilisation, a hidden history that was only now being revealed by the discovery of mysterious artefacts linked to early Muslim Prophets: first Zachariah, then Dhul Kifli, and finally Adam and Eve themselves. An investigation by Tempo identified a coordinated campaign with over 1,500 videos on Prophet Zachariah alone uploaded to YouTube on 21 April. This apparent influence operation involved 507 Indonesian-language and 295 English-language YouTube channels spreading similar content in April, which later circulated on TikTok and Facebook.
At the same time, fabricated and exaggerated videos of China’s humanitarian aid to Gaza and other Muslim countries spread across Indonesian social media. While global power rivalry may help explain the recent increase in pro-China narratives, China’s attempts at engineering cultural appeal to Indonesian Muslim communities is longstanding. For years, China has sponsored tours for Indonesian journalists and religious leaders to Xinjiang to counter allegations of human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims, as well as trips for Indonesian influencers who later produced positive content about China.
Two additional factors contextualise the recent surge of themes related to Islam in China: China’s global humanitarian diplomacy and the strategic targeting of Chinese-Indonesian economic interests. While they cannot be attributed directly to Chinese state actors, these narratives represent a modern pseudo-historical myth-making that could improve China’s reputation in Indonesia, where anti-Chinese and anti-communist violence is a periodic concern. Blurring facts and fiction, the narratives convey that China is a deep and loyal cultural ally to Muslim nations.
Through digital ethnography and qualitative analysis, our team identified numerous videos showing Chinese tourists being showered with gratitude by local people in Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Syria, with one video bearing the caption “The US destroys, China rebuilds.” These videos follow a familiar pattern: Chinese tourists wander Middle Eastern bazaars, locals ask for selfies, or sellers refuse payment as a gesture of gratitude. In one video, Turkish market-goers applauded members of the Chinese Search and Rescue team for its assistance during the 2023 earthquake. The scenes often end with Chinese and the Muslim countries’ flags appearing side by side, symbolising equal partnership and friendship. The identical scripts, montage-style editing, and mass release of these videos are strongly indicative of artificial orchestration.
Though false, the stories are partially grounded in truth. Over the past decade, China has expanded its humanitarian diplomacy to advance “the idea of responsible power [and] that China’s development is peaceful”. This coincides with China’s growing interest in peace mediation, as exemplified by initiatives like the 2024 Beijing Declaration which attempted to bring peace to Palestine through the unification of Fatah and Hamas. While China has given humanitarian aid to Gaza, viral videos claiming that China airdropped aid using Y-20 jets are false.
As well as examples of global diplomacy, the new ‘Islam in China’ propaganda has an economic dimension. In April and May 2025, a network of TikTok accounts—seemingly supporters of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation boasting 48 million membership—circulated a story about Wali Songo, the venerated “nine saints” who propagated Islam in Java in the 14th-16th Century. The images claimed that Wali Songo were descended from Yunnan, China, rather than Hadhramaut, Yemen, as history texts state. One video displayed a painting of Wali Songo with East Asian facial features, in contrast to traditional Arab-looking depictions, and suggested that the Suharto government (1966-1998) had altered history because of his pro-US stance. Although the image was fabricated, the Yunnan connection is partly based on historical facts about Zheng He, a Muslim admiral from Yunnan who voyaged to Indonesia in the 15th Century and is commemorated today through several Indonesian mosques bearing his name.
NU is known for supporting Chinese minority rights and maintaining ties with the Chinese government, including scholarships and other partnerships. Clerics associated with NU helped the Indonesian government counter anti-Chinese mobilisation during mass protests in late 2024 and early 2025 against the Pantai Indah Kapuk 2 (PIK 2) project—although NU as an organisation was not officially involved. The new waterfront development is owned by two Chinese Indonesian tycoons, reportedly with investment from Chinese and Singaporean partners. Despite its inclusion in the National Strategic Projects, PIK 2 continued to face opposition, including from Islamist groups led by Yemeni-descendent clerics.
In a counter-mobilisation move, clerics from NU and a local branch of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) publicly endorsed PIK 2 development in January 2025, citing that its owner had supported Islam by donating to NU schools. Additionally, an intellectual from NU background conducted highly controversial research challenging the claimed lineage of Yemeni-descendent clerics to Prophet Muhammad. Thus, the narrative linking Wali Songo’s origin to China can be seen as part of a broader local Indonesian political strategy to delegitimise Islamist opposition groups while defending the interests of Chinese owned businesses.
The ‘Islam in China’ narratives illustrate a politically motivated myth-making aimed at boosting China’s image in the Muslim world, particularly in Indonesia, where anti-Chinese sentiment has deep roots. This image-making exercise is resonant in the current international environment, marked by mounting tensions between China and the US and its allies. China is supporting these myth-making tactics through the use of new technology such as AI. Through doing so, it leverages genuine historical connections between Yunnan Muslim figures and the Indonesian Muslim community to advance its present-day economic and strategic interests, with a view toward cultivating a sense of long-term kinship and collective identity. These narratives are then being taken up, adapted, and localised within Indonesian society to support domestic political actors. In this way, pro-Chinese disinformation is naturalised and amplified at a local level, granting it a stronger believability and likelihood to influence people’s perceptions and opinions.
Nava Nuraniyah is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Macquarie University, focusing on online extremism and disinformation. Julian Droogan is a Professor in Security Studies and Head of the School of International Studies at Macquarie University. Jennifer Williams is a Lecturer in Cybersecurity Analysis at Macquarie University in the School of International Studies.
