The Chinese regime is using the Coronavirus Outbreak
as a form of propaganda warfare.
And the backlash is huge.
This is China Uncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell.
As more information comes out about the deadly coronavirus,
we are finally getting answers.
There’s been a lot of questions about where the blame
for the virus’ spread should lay.
Chinese people eating bat soup?
A leak from a Chinese biolab?
A cover up at high levels of the Chinese Communist Party?
No!
Turns out, America’s to blame!
Chinese social media sites,
“are pushing the idea that the virus
really originated in the United States.
Clips from Taiwanese TV and mistranslated captions
from American reporting
are used to back up the case.”
Like this one, where the Chinese caption says that the CDC
confirms the first case of the Coronavirus originated in the US.
It’s not clear whether that translation was state backed...
or if it’s just a reading comprehension issue
by whoever made the Chinese caption.
But the Chinese Communist Party is turning
the coronavirus outbreak into a big propaganda push.
They published this huge, glossy book called
“A Battle Against Epidemic: China Combatting in 2020.”
It basically complies all official state media
reporting about the coronavirus.
And guess what the message is?
“The Chinese Communist Party,
despite all evidence to the contrary,
and despite the broad undercurrent of popular anger
on Chinese social media,
has faced the epidemic with great wisdom
and effectiveness from the start.”
I get it.
We all believe we’re the hero of our own story.
Even if we’re an authoritarian dictatorship
that routinely kills our own citizens.
To be clear, I’m not using the “royal we” here.
Anyway, the book
“has gotten rave reviews in Chinese media,
not least because it was published by their ultimate boss—
the Central Committee Publicity Department,
formerly known as the Propaganda Department.”
The Chinese regime is also taking the propaganda battle
to American social media banned in China.
Like this poll by state-run Xinhua News.
In China's fight against the coronavirus outbreak,
which part impresses you most?
Gosh, there are so many choices!
It also doesn’t help that the World Health Organization
is lavishing praise on how the Chinese Communist Party
has responded to the outbreak.
One W.H.O. official even said this.
“If I had COVID-19, I’d want to be treated in China.”
Yes, will it be the “box” treatment for you, sir?
Or the “welded into your home to starve” treatment?
Or perhaps the more plebeian “thrown into a hastily built,
overcrowded quarantine center” treatment?
Meanwhile, the popular WeChat messaging app
has been censoring coronavirus content for months.
And many citizen journalists and whistleblowers
who have spoken out about the coronavirus
have been jailed or simply disappeared.
But Chinese coronavirus propaganda doesn’t always go as planned.
State run media released this video of female medical workers
getting their heads shaved.
It was supposed to be a,
“wow, look at how dedicated these women are!
Shaving their heads so they can fit into their medical gear better.”
But it came off more as a group of men
humiliating a bunch of women in tears.
Chinese internet users were furious.
One person wrote on WeChat,
“Stop using women’s bodies as propaganda tools.”
Don’t worry, that person won’t be
posting comments like that for long!
The Chinese Communist Party
is also using coronavirus misinformation
to attack Shen Yun.
Shen Yun is a New York-based performing arts company.
According to its website,
it’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture
through the arts.
It was also started by Falun Gong practitioners.
So the Chinese Communist Party really hates Shen Yun.
But since it's based in the US, they can’t touch it.
So they’ve started spreading rumors that the dancers
are infected with the coronavirus.
Even though Shen Yun performers
are the least likely Chinese people to be infected—
because they’re literally banned from traveling to China.
The Communist Party’s propaganda got so bad,
that in one city where Shen Yun was performing,
the health department had to step in, and be like:
Guys, the dancers are not infected.
The Salt Lake County Health Department made it clear that,
“Shen Yun is based in NYC, not China.”
This kind of propaganda attack isn't just happening in the US.
In South Korea, where the coronavirus outbreak really is severe,
a, “theater manager received a phone call from a TV reporter
who said that the Chinese Consulate
had told the reporter that Shen Yun performers were from Wuhan,”—
that’s where the outbreak began.
But all of the Commuinst Party’s attempts
to spread propaganda and lies about the coronavirus
are only damaging its reputation.
Abroad and even inside China.
What the Party calls “rumors,”
are now being taken as truths.
“‘Rumor is just a prophecy far ahead of our times,’
says a quote widely shared online in China in recent weeks.”
Taiwan is also accusing the Chinese regime
of spreading disinformation, calling it cyber war.
“This week Taiwan’s government reported
an increase in fake online reports about the virus on the island,
and blamed China’s “internet army”
for being behind the misinformation.”
I mean, just because there’s an outbreak of a deadly disease,
doesn’t mean you have to stop being petty.
So what do you think about how the Chinese regime
has turned the coronavirus outbreak into propaganda warfare?
Tell me in the comments below.
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As a thank you to them,
I answer their questions at the end of some of my episodes.
Today’s question comes from William Adderholdt,
“The W.H.O.'s name for the coronavirus "COVID-19" hasn't caught on.
Any idea why?
And what would be a good replacement name?”
Good question.
Coronavirus is actually the name of a family of diseases.
For example, SARS is another type of coronavirus.
So in mid-February,
the World Health Organization dubbed this new coronavirus disease
COVID-19.
This was their reasoning behind the name.
“We had to find a name that did not refer to a geographical location,
an animal, an individual or group of people
and which is also pronounceable and related to the disease.
Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names
that can be inaccurate or stigmatising.”
And obviously the W.H.O. wouldn’t want to do anything
that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese Communist Party.
But this was already weeks after they declared the coronavirus outbreak
a global health emergency and months after the virus
first began to spread in China.
That was a long time for the public
to only have “coronavirus” as a name.
People got used to it.
And it sounds better than COVID-19.
What would be a better name for a deadly disease
spreading around the world and killing people?
Well, sounds like Communism to me.
But I think calling it that might just be confusing.
Thanks for your question, William.
And thank you for watching.
If you’d like to hear your question answered on the show,
join the China Uncensored 50-cent army
by going to patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell.
See you next time.