Ulterior motives

别有用心 (biéyǒuyòngxīn): ulterior motives

Former Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang: “Those who claim that the Chinese government supports hackers have ulterior motives.” (Tencent)

A phrase often used by the official media to blame foreign forces and domestic dissidents for social unrest and criticism towards Chinese government.

Netizens sometimes twist this phrase to mock the government.

Examples:

Wengtao2015 (@翁涛2015): If you yell on the street, "Diaoyu Islands belong to China!" you are a patriot. If you instead yell, "Outer Mongolia and Vladivostok belong to China!" you may be arrested as a mad person or someone who has ulterior motives! Why is that? (February 14, 2015)

如果你站在街上喊：“钓鱼岛是中国的！”你就是爱国者；你若喊：“外蒙、海参崴是中国的！”，你就是有可能被当作疯子或者别有用心抓起来！这是为什么？ [Chinese]