2021 in Review: China Led in Global Disinformation On COVID-19 Pandemic

Faced with criticism over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now claimed over five million lives globally, China disseminated disinformation globally in 2021 aimed at convincing the world not only that it should not be blamed for the pandemic, but that it was leading the world in combating the virus. China's COVID-19 disinformation involved manipulating messaging on the pandemic’s origins, pandemic management, vaccine efficacy and vaccine diplomacy. Multiple reports showed that China has been the most prolific country in spreading pandemic disinformation, mobilizing concerted efforts by its “wolf-warrior” diplomats who seek to “defend China’s national interests, often in confrontational ways”, multilingual state media organs, and domestic and global social media platforms. According to a report published in October by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, “the Chinese government and its proxies have heavily leveraged social media, especially Twitter, in an attempt to repair China’s reputation and cast doubt on prevailing global narratives about the pandemic.” Here are some of the 14 false and misleading Chinese claims about the pandemic that Polygraph.info fact-checked in 2021. Pandemic Origin A nine-month investigation by the Associated Press and Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, the results of which were published in February, found that China had taken “the lead in spreading foreign disinformation about COVID-19’s origins.” China repeatedly rejected the validity of the lab leak theory, according to which SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, could have escaped from a biolab in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where COVID-19 cases were first detected in December 2019. On June 4, state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN) posted a report titled “Expert: Zero evidence that virus came out of a lab in China.” It relied on quotes from Peter Daszak, president of the U.S.-based organization EcoHealth Alliance and an expert on disease ecology. Daszak worked with leading coronavirus researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) team that went to Wuhan in February to investigate the pandemic’s origins. The CGTN report quoted Daszak as saying “there is a huge amount of evidence that these viruses repeatedly emerge into people from wild animals in rural areas through things like hunting and eating wildlife” and that it was “almost impossible for it to have come out of a lab.” However, as Polygraph.info reported, “to focus exclusively on the evidentiary gaps in the lab-leak theory is misleading.” In fact, the jury is still out on the origins of the novel coronavirus and some scientists say the truth may never be known. Yet, since the early days of the pandemic, China has spread conspiracy theories suggesting SARS-CoV-2 was manufactured in a U.S. military biolab. After the U.S. intelligence community launched an investigation into the origins of the pandemic in May at the direction of President Joe Biden, Chinese state media and officials intensified that disinformation campaign, suggesting COVID-19 was introduced into China after being engineered in the United States. On August 11, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) ran a report suggesting that American athletes participating in the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan may have brought COVID-19 to the country, despite the fact that even Chinese state-run media and a respected Chinese health official had explicitly rejected and debunked that conspiracy theory at the start of the pandemic. The new Chinese disinformation push resurrected the unsupported suggestion that the novel coronavirus was manufactured in the U.S. Army’s biolab in Fort Detrick, Maryland. However, starting in late August, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and CCTV-affiliated social media accounts went further, cherry-picking and misrepresenting facts to falsely suggest that a U.S. top coronavirus scientist may have engineered SARS-CoV-2. On August 10, the state-run media outlet China Daily ran a story that cited Wilson Edwards, identified as a Swiss biologist, who called a WHO proposal to continue searching for COVID-19’s origins inside China “largely politically motivated.” The Swiss Embassy in Beijing later announced that there was no record that a biologist named Wilson Edwards existed. Pandemic Management On August 27, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. harshly responded to the release of a summary of the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community’s months-long investigation into the pandemic’s origins. “[T]he assertion of lack of transparency on the part of China is only an excuse for its politicizing and stigmatizing campaign,” the embassy’s statement read. “Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has taken an open, transparent and responsible attitude. We have released information, shared the genome sequencing of the virus, and carried out international cooperation to fight the disease, all done at the earliest possible time.” Polygraph.info judged the Chinese claim to be false. It noted ample evidence showing that China had been far from an open book concerning the pandemic and at times had dragged its feet or refused to hand over vital information. Vaccine Diplomacy In May, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organization of journalists, issued a report stating that China had engaged in a massive vaccine diplomacy campaign that “fulfilled the very real need for medical assistance at the same time as providing a propaganda boon illustrating Beijing’s status as a generous partner for nations in need." On October 11, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian misleadingly portrayed vaccine donation efforts by China and United States. He said that China had “provided more than 1.4 billion doses of vaccines to more than 100 countries and international organizations,” adding that it was ramping up efforts to “provide two billion doses to the world this year.” Zhao then took a swipe at the United States, saying that “[i]t is hoped that the U.S. could honor its vaccine aid promise at an early date, instead of offering a Barmecide feast to developing countries.” As Polygraph.info noted, Zhao used “the word ‘provide’ to gloss over the fact that a vast majority of Chinese vaccines have been sold rather than donated.” It also noted that “while the United States has hit snags in providing vaccines globally, it remains far and away the largest donor of COVID-19 vaccine doses worldwide." On October 26, state-run China Radio International distorted U.S. hurdles in donating expiring COVID-19 vaccines in a cartoon captioned “I’d rather destroy them than give them to you.” According to the accompanying description, the cartoon suggested that White House Vaccine Task Force wouldn’t allow expiring surplus vaccines to be donated to countries in need simply because “COVID-19 vaccines are federal property … [They] do not allow donation, and [they] destroyed those vaccines.” This Chinese portrayal failed to note that the U.S. government, for logistical and legal reasons, prohibits state and local authorities from donating expiring vaccines abroad. Vaccine Efficacy On September 3, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok exaggerated the efficacy the China’s Sinovac vaccines in response to increasing criticism and scrutiny in Thailand about Sinovac vaccine doses that the Thai government had purchased from China. The embassy cited research papers that showed the Sinovac vaccine’s high efficacy in preventing serious COVID-19 symptoms and deaths, saying this was “proof that Sinovac is not an inferior vaccine, as has been alleged.” Polygraph.info noted that while criticism of Sinovac has been overblown, studies suggested that Sinovac vaccines were less effective than other COVID-19 vaccines. Chinese media also spread claims that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were risky and even deadly. According to the CSIS report released in October, these Chinese media reports cherry-picked extremely rare cases of sudden death or illness among people who received the vaccines in West European countries and Mexico. The CSIS report also noted that China’s large-scale COVID-19 pandemic disinformation efforts have had a limited impact. “Perceptions about China’s handling of the pandemic have improved with time, but Beijing has not shaken accusations that it is ultimately to blame for the pandemic, and unfavorable views of China remain near record highs in many countries,” CSIS wrote.