China wants the roughly 200 media outlets in its Belt and Road News Network to spread positive Communist Party spin about Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the state-run People’s Daily reported.
“The Belt and Road News Network issued an open letter to its alliance members of 205 media outlets from 98 countries around the world, calling on them to give the message of unity and support to the public, tell stories of how countries fight together by looking over for and helping each other, and give the warm message of unity and strength,” read a story on the website Monday.
The report then trashed US and other Western media outlets — which have reported on China’s effort to minimize and conceal the dangers of the virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan.
“Unfortunately, some irresponsible Western media outlets spread and even fabricated rumors, which undermined international cooperation to fight the virus,” the report said, before praising “China’s incredible sacrifice in fighting COVID-19.”
The report from China’s ruling party — infamous for crushing dissent, censoring the internet and media and jailing those who don’t toe the party line — then lectured independent media outlets on “truth.”
“The media should faithfully record history and respect facts in news reporting. Truth is basic for news. At this crucial moment, media practitioners must work in a down-to-earth way, learn the real situations, and report the truth in the most accurate, objective and comprehensive manner,” the People’s Daily report said.
The BRNN was launched in April 2019 to boost “understanding, friendship and cooperation, and form a normalized mechanism for collaboration” across the participating countries and regions of China’s multibillion-dollar connectivity project, according to the website The Diplomat, referring to the country’s effort to gain influence by financing capital projects in developing nations, largely in Asia and Africa.
The People’s Daily article calling for “truth” appeared the same day that the South China Morning Post reported that a Chinese scholar had been detained by the authorities after writing an open letter to the country’s legislature ripping the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and calling for freedom of speech.
Zhang Xuezhong was removed from his Shanghai home Sunday night, the website reported.
Zhang — a well-known critic of China’s political and legal system — said in the letter that in the absence of a modern constitution, China’s Communist governance was backward, and “the outbreak and spread of the Covid-19 epidemic is a good illustration of the problem.”
Since first being reported in Wuhan in late December, the coronavirus has infected over 4.1 million people globally, killing more than 282,000, including more than 80,000 in the US.
There were earlier calls for freedom of speech in February following the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who had alerted colleagues in December about the pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan, and who was one of eight people slammed by the Communist country’s police for “spreading rumors.”
Li, who was required to sign a document vowing he would “keep in line in thought and action” with the Communist Party, later died from coronavirus.
China reportedly orders network to spread Communist Party propaganda
