Tourists visit the sand sculptures based on American animated sitcom The Simpsons at Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea on May 25, 2017. 10 sand sculptors from 6 countries will demonstrate their skills during a sand sculpture festival from May 26 to 29 at Haeundae Beach. Photo: CFP

After Disney removed a Simpsons episode smearing China from its streaming service in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, experts warned on Wednesday that untrue content is a self-defeating move and Disney should better manage its products for the sake of sustainable development in China.

A recent episode of the American cartoon series The Simpsons wantonly smeared China, with a clip referring to the “forced labor camps” in China fabricated by anti-China forces, according to media reports.

The episode, named One Angry Lisa, contains a scene of about 10 seconds in which a character, over images of China’s Great Wall, says “behold the wonders of China. Bitcoin mines, forced labor camps…”

The lines sparked criticism among netizens. A netizen wrote on Facebook that it is unethical and unprofessional. “Too many people rush to judgment based on prior hypothesis bias, and now the West leads the way and turns lies to ‘truth,’” he said.

Based on the US’ strong economic power, American cultural products have great influence across the world, but the influence is not the same as truth and justice, Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

It is a sign of the cultural penetration of anti-China forces in the US, Dong warned.

Anti-China forces in the West have been hyping rumors about “forced labor camps” in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in recent years. China’s Foreign Ministry said they are seeking to undermine the prosperity and stability of Xinjiang and contain China's development and revitalization under the pretext of human rights.

The cartoon series is produced by Disney-owned 20th Television Animation and airs on the company’s streaming platform Disney Plus, which is currently not available in the Chinese mainland. Though Disney has removed the episode from its streaming service in Hong Kong, users from many other regions, such as Australia and China’s island of Taiwan, can still watch it, according to a Financial Times report and Hong Kong media outlets.

Respect for the truth is the most basic requirement, Dong said, noting that wantonly smearing China will eventually backfire.

China has become one of Disney's most significant sources of revenue for its films and theme parks.

The box office for its latest film – “Avatar: The Way of Water” – has exceeded 1.66 billion yuan in the Chinese mainland, according to data released by the box office tracker Dengta on Wednesday.

During the recent Spring Festival holidays, Shanghai Disneyland was packed with visitors. It took an hour just to get into the park, one netizen said on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.