China said it has never used “disinformation” to improve its (representational) image
Beijing:
Beijing on Thursday rejected an EU report accusing China and Russia of carrying out misinformation campaigns on coronaviruses as a “false accusation”.
Brussels says China and Russia sought to undermine European democracy and damage their reputation during the pandemic with “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns”.
The unusually brutal accusation came in an official EU strategy document to attack what officials say is a “deluge” of false health care claims, conspiracy theories, fraud and of hate speech surrounding the coronavirus.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the report “avoids the plain facts”.
“This false accusation against China is in itself misinformation,” said Hua during a regular press briefing.
“We have never boasted or relied on misinformation to improve our image. The virus is the common enemy of mankind, and disinformation is also a common enemy of mankind.”
Despite the report, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that he had assured the Chinese foreign minister that the bloc did not want a “cold war”.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
