Battlefield 4 accused of discrediting China's image by military paper

A Chinese media outlet has criticized Battlefield 4 for "discrediting China's image" and "distorting the truth in an effort to mislead young people."

The editorial published in military newspaper Zhongguo Guofangbao (via the South China Morning Post) accused DICE and EA of incorporating China into the game as a grab for attention. "When western countries would make war games in the past, they would settle on Russia if they needed an imaginary enemy," claimed the article.

The editorial singles out both the game's single-player campaign, which involves a renegade Chinese general in the plot, and the China Rising DLC expansion, which features four maps set on the Chinese mainland.

In Battlefield 4's campaign, the US and Chinese forces eventually work together towards a common goal.

“But in recent years, with the boosting of China’s national strength, China threat theories run rampant, and foreign companies are increasingly keen to put the Sino-US conflict in their games as a gimmick to attract attention," argues the article.

Elsewhere in the piece, vice director for the China Public Diplomacy Association, Ma Zhengang, is quoted as saying "in order to deal with western preconceptions of China...[the Chinese] need to rise up, share China's voice" and "resist video game media that puts China in a bad light."

Using video games "to discredit one country’s image in the eyes of other countries is a new form of cultural penetration and aggression," adds the paper's editorial.