Australia accuses China and Russia of virus disinformation
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — China and Russia were using the heightened anxiety around the coronavirus pandemic to undermine Western democracies by spreading disinformation online, Australia’s foreign minister said.
The disinformation contributed to a “climate of fear and division” when the world needed cooperation and understanding, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a speech at the Australian National University, a text of which was released by her office late Tuesday.
“Concerningly, we have seen disinformation pushed and promoted around the coronavirus pandemic and around some of the social pressures that have been exacerbated by the pandemic,” Payne said.
“It is troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to undermine liberal democracy to promote their own more authoritarian models,” she added.
Payne referred to a European Union commission report last week that said “foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China” are flooding Europe with “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns.” It cited dangerous misinformation like claims that drinking bleach can cure the disease and that washing hands does not help prevent its spread.
Payne last week rejected as disinformation China’s warning to its citizens against visiting Australia because of pandemic-related racism.
China has also banned beef exports from Australia’s largest abattoirs and ended the trade in Australian barley with prohibitive tariffs in what is widely regarded as punishment for Australia’s advocacy for an independent inquiry into the origins and responses to the pandemic.
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