Tipsheet

China Just Blew Up the EU's Plan to Condemn the Regime's Coronavirus Propaganda Campaign

Beth Baumann
Beth Baumann  |  April 26, 2020 10:10 AM

The European Union was scheduled to release a report last week detailing China's disinformation campaign to downplay its role in the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese Communist Party pressured the EU to downplay the regime's role in the pandemic after a POLITICO article quoted an advanced copy of the report.

From the original POLITICO story:

DISINFO WARNING: Russian and Chinese “official and state-backed” accounts continue to “widely target both conspiracy narratives both at public audiences in the EU and the wider neighbourhood,” according to a report by the European External Action Service’s StratCom division, obtained by Playbook ahead of publication, which is expected for today.

Health claims: Russian “official sources and state-controlled media and social media channels have been running a coordinated campaign … promoting false health information.” Particularly affected are “smaller media markets within and outside the EU” where “tech companies face lower incentives to take adequate counter-measures,” according to the report.

That’s more than an annoyance: “A growing body of evidence suggests that coronavirus  related disinformation can have direct impact on public health and security,” the report says.

China’s goals: “China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed,” according to the report.

The new report – that had China's stamp of approval – was released shortly before the start of the weekend. Harsh criticism for China was "rearranged or removed," Reuters reported.

A Chinese official reportedly contacted the EU and warned that “if the report is as described and it is released today it will be very bad for cooperation." China accused the EU of attempting to please "someone else," a clear reference to the United States and President Donald Trump.

Reuters detailed the differences between the April 21st report and the report that was actually released:

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The four sources said the report had been delayed as a result, and a comparison of the internal version of the report obtained by Reuters and the final version published late Friday showed several differences.

For example, on the first page of the internal report shared with EU governments on April 20, the EU’s foreign policy arm said: “China has continued to run a global disinformation campaign to deflect blame for the outbreak of the pandemic and improve its international image. Both overt and covert tactics have been observed.”

The public summary posted Friday to the bloc’s disinformation portal, euvsdisinfo.eu http://www.euvsdisinfo.eu, attributed the disinformation to “state-backed sources from various governments, including Russia and – to a lesser extent – China.”

The public summary did note “significant evidence of covert Chinese operations on social media,” but the reference was left to the final six paragraphs of the document.

The regime has continually engaged in a propaganda campaign. At one point the CCP said the virus started in the United States and our military brought it to Wuhan.

The regime likes to make it seem like they're doing everything in their power to help out the world but what do they do? Sent defective tests to the EU.

And, again, the CCP went to work to save face.

Plus, if the regime wasn't trying to cover up their tracks as a PR gimmick, why did they censor various Wuhan coronavirus-related phrases commonly found on the internet?

The fact of the matter is this: the disease started in Wuhan. Wuhan is in China. Chinese officials lied about what took place. They were focused on protecting their country's image (even though it wasn't all that stellar to begin with) instead of protecting lives around the world. Taiwan did everything in their power to blow the whistle on what was taking place. They alerted the World Health Organization back in December and the warning fell on deaf ears. Not only did the WHO fail to alert the world but they pushed Chinese propaganda.

China can continue with their propaganda campaign but the world knows the truth and some of us aren't going to let them get away with unleashing this virus. 

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