Pumping out propaganda and lies

CHINA is aggressively promoting flimsy theories that Covid-19 originated outside the country as World Health Organisation experts begin their investigation in Wuhan into the pandemic’s source.

The country’s state- run media last week leapt on a report that a woman with symptoms of the virus has been traced to Milan in November 2019 as proof that the pandemic started abroad.

A l eading Chinese s ci enti s t declared in the nationalistic Global Times: ‘Other countries potentially had Covid outbreaks before Wuhan and investigations should be carried out there as soon as possible.’

The news from Italy made headlines in many Chinese newspapers, drawing online comments such as ‘the world owes China an apology.’

Beijing leaders have made repeated attempts to divert blame for the pandemic by claiming it was introduced to China by foreigners. In March last year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian tweeted suggestions that the US Army might have brought in the virus when its troops competed in the Military World Games in Wuhan in October 2019.

Last November, Chinese scientists argued the virus may have originated in India in the summer of 2019 when a heatwave forced animals and humans to share the same water sources. A month later, a state-run newspaper claimed the virus might have been introduced to China in frozen meat imported from Australia, following earlier claims that people may have been infected by imported fish.

More r e c e n t l y, n e wspaper s and TV stations have played up reports questioning the efficacy of Western Covid-19 vaccines as China struggles to gain i nternational acceptance for its own home-grown versions.