Communist China, in an attempt to salvage its image over the coronavirus outbreak, has started to deliver hundreds of thousands of testing kits and masks to nations around the world, which reportedly do not work.
“In Spain, which currently has the fourth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, the government purchased 640,000 rapid test kits from China and South Korea as it fights the pandemic,” the Free Beacon reported. “Experts soon discovered, however, that the tests it purchased from Chinese company Bioeasy were only correctly identifying coronavirus cases 30 percent of the time, according to Spain’s El Pais.”
The Free Beacon added, “The Czech Republic also purchased 150,000 rapid test kits from China, and have likewise found problems. One doctor using the tests found that 80 percent of the kits were faulty and has reverted back to the conventional lab tests, which are significantly slower to process.”
The Daily Beast reported that Turkey has also had problems with the testing kits that China provided, and that Georgia — the nation, not the state — has canceled its contract with China.
AFP reported that Dutch officials had to recall 600,000 masks that it received from China because “they did not close over the face properly, or had defective filters.”
China’s attempts to provide nations with needed equipment to fight the outbreak of the coronavirus, which originated in China, is likely part of the communist nation’s propaganda campaign.
The New York Times reported in February that the outbreak “undermined” China’s economic and military ambitions, and that the propaganda campaign “suggests the party might be worried about lasting damage.”
Elizabeth C. Economy, a senior fellow and director of Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Times, “The danger for Xi Jinping is that as the virus spreads globally, the role that China’s system of governance played in delaying a timely response will face growing scrutiny and criticism from the international community.”
Economy added that the propaganda campaign was “a last-ditch effort by Xi to deflect blame and avoid a demand by the international community for an honest accounting of what actually transpired.”