[Laforet]

It was an opinion piece, but a editorial. WaPo really tried hard to over analyze that post.

After all, Xinhua has traditionally avoided publishing opinions because their main role is a news agency, but with social media there is a lot less restraint than before.

[odinduty]

There's absolutely nothing in that post that makes me think it's an opinion piece or an editorial. It's a regular news entry, and a very misleading one, if not outright malicious.

[Laforet]

The Weibo handle quoted in the WaPo article was named "Xinhua Opinions/Viewpoints", does not get more obvious than that.

[odinduty]

And the Washington Post article clearly says, despite of that, that the April Fools day was banned. Read the title.