No, China has not declared George Soros a ‘global terrorist’

What is the claim? 

Social media users have claimed that China has officially labeled Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros a ‘global terrorist’ and ‘son of satan.’ 

An Instagram user shared a screenshot (archived here) of an unnamed article headlined, “China Officially Declares George Soros a 'Global Terrorist' - He's 'the Son of Satan' Chinese Communist Party labels billionaire globalist 'the most evil person in the world.” The text above the screenshot reads, “Evil Soro, who funds the democratic party in the US, the Labour Party in the UK, Australia, new Zealand governments and the weak globalist governments throughout the west He is a cancer on society along with bill gates (sic).”

The post is also widely shared on X and Facebook, and the archives of these posts can be found here, here, here, and here.  

We also found an iteration of the claim on YouTube using Logically® Accelerate, a product that enables proactive discovery of fact-check-worthy content on platforms.

Screenshots of viral posts circulating online. (Source: Facebook/X//Modified by Logically Facts)

Soros, a billionaire, founded Open Society Foundations that financially support democracies worldwide and has been a frequent target for conspiracy theories and falsehoods that spread online.  

However, we found that the now-viral post is false, and there has been no official announcement from the Chinese government against Soros.   

What did we find? 

Logically Facts checked the official website of China’s Ministry of Public Security for an official announcement but found no such recent statement from the government.  

We could not find the article in the screenshot shared in the viral post, but a Google search led us to an opinion piece published in September 2021 by Huanqui.com, a Chinese-language edition of The Global Times. It is a daily newspaper run by the Chinese Communist Party. The Google translation of the article headline and subheading reads, “Make up for it: This "global economic terrorist" is staring at China! “Global economic terrorist," "conspirator," "the most evil person in the world," "son of Satan"...These are all talking about the same person: Soros.”

Although the piece criticized Soros, the translation of the whole article did not mention anywhere that the Chinese government has officially designated Soros as a terrorist. 

Furthermore, we found a report published by Asia Times, an English news media based in Hong Kong. The report elaborated on the opinion piece, stating that the article accused Soros of funding “Hong Kong’s jailed newspaper owner, Jimmy Lai, to support the city’s anti-Beijing protests in 2019.” 

It is important to note that while Soros has been a critic of China’s ruling party, there is no evidence or official statement from China suggesting that the government has labeled him a 'global terrorist.'

Logically Facts has also previously debunked the claim that Australia has classified Soros as a global terrorist, which can be read here.

We also contacted the Soros Open Society Foundations for a comment, and the check will be updated as and when we receive the response. 

The verdict

There is no evidence to corroborate the claim that China has officially labeled George Soros a 'global terrorist.' The claim stems from a 2021 opinion piece criticizing the philanthropist, but no official announcement exists from the Chinese government.