The U.S. State Department summoned Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai on Friday after top Chinese officials have started making categorically false statements suggesting that the U.S. military might have brought the coronavirus to China.
Fox News reported:
A senior State official told Fox News that Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell called in Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai over China’s “blatant, global” disinformation campaign on the novel coronavirus.
The report comes after Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian falsely claimed on Twitter on Thursday, “When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
Fox News reported on Thursday:
Beijing has been bending over backward trying to convince the world that the United States is the real culprit behind the quickly spreading virus that’s already claimed more than 4,600 lives across the globe. It’s a high-stakes strategy for the Asian nation fighting to keep its superpower status amid a national lockdown and palpable anger over claims that Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus, at first covered it up, triggering a worldwide health and economic crisis.
At best, China’s aggressive new campaign can be chalked up to ambitious propaganda. At its worst, it’s a reckless display from a country that has actively misled the world while working overtime to save its own skin, foreign affairs expert Gordon G. Chang told Fox News. Chang believes Beijing has been laying the groundwork for a PR attack against the United States for more than a month, first by throwing doubt on the origin of COVID-19 and second, by slamming America’s handling of previous diseases like the swine flu, which decimated China’s pork industry.
China allegedly lied to the world about the extent of the outbreak, silenced whistleblowers, and refused assistance from the CDC and WHO to help contain the outbreak for over a month.
The New York Times reported:
Mr. Xi, China’s most influential leader since Mao, has made it a priority to expand the country’s economic and military might around the world and to demonstrate that China can play the role of responsible superpower.
The coronavirus outbreak has undermined those global ambitions, and the propaganda push suggests the party might be worried about lasting damage. And as the virus spreads to 56 countries and wreaks havoc on global markets, experts say the campaign could revive concerns about China’s secretive approach to managing the crisis.
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.”
The massive propaganda campaign is “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,” she continued.