The EU has accused Beijing of carrying out a disinformation campaign on coronaviruses. (Representative)
Brussels:
The EU chief diplomat said on Wednesday that he had assured the Chinese foreign minister that the bloc did not want a “cold war”, accusing Beijing of carrying out a disinformation campaign on coronaviruses.
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 pandemic.
The report was released on Wednesday, a day after EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had video interviews with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Borrell stressed on Wednesday that the EU “is not starting anything” with China and said that he had reassured Wang during their talks.
“I said to him, ‘Don’t worry, Europe will not engage in any kind of cold war with China,'” said Borrell.
The report, which also calls on web giants such as Twitter and Facebook to do more to combat disinformation, accuses Moscow and Beijing of “seeking to undermine democratic debate and exacerbate social polarization, and to improve their own image in the COVID-19 “context.
The dispute raises tensions before a video summit later this month between the President of the Council of the EU, Charles Michel, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Chinese leaders.
EU-China relations have reached a critical point as Brussels strives to calibrate its response to Beijing’s growing assertion under President Xi Jinping.
The bloc called Beijing a “systemic rival” – to the chagrin of Chinese officials – and sought to challenge it on human rights issues like Tibet and Hong Kong.
But the EU is struggling to maintain a united front as 27 national governments pursue their own political and economic interests with the Asian giant.
Borrell, who in recent weeks has called for a “firmer” EU stance on China and warned that Beijing does not share European values, said governments should be careful.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
