Depressingly, I saw one of my Facebook friends (who doesn't seem to be a China shill) sharing this ridiculous article.
I said western propaganda is very powerful. It can infect so many China Chinese in China into being angry with their government for covering up despite their being protected by the Great Firewall from Western lies and misinformation.
Then I saw another friend sharing it, and got annoyed (nowadays, getting annoyed is my number 1 motivation for writing full blog posts)
This shit article falls apart at the slightest scrutiny
It is dated March 20 but links to a 21 March Daily Beast post (White House Pushes U.S. Officials to Criticize China For Coronavirus ‘Cover-Up’). And it maliciously misquoted the Daily Beast post as claiming that American officials were told to propagate a coverup myth
A communications strategy is not the same as propagating fake news
Plus, the Daily Beast post says the US cable was sent on 20 March
Yet, we have known for a long time that China covered up the Coronavirus
More than a month before the US allegedly sent the cable telling its officials to propagate fake news, the South China Morning Post in February (Li Wenliang: an ‘ordinary hero’ at the centre of the coronavirus storm | South China Morning Post) already noted that Li Wenliang had been persecuted for trying to raise the alarm
It also notes that, contrary to the fake news from "Asia Review" that Li said the virus was SARS,
Li did not know whether the virus was actually Sars. In an hour he corrected it, explaining that although it was a coronavirus, like Sars, it had not been identified yet.
It is strange that US diplomats are so powerful that they can not only time travel but also influence Chinese state media. As the SCMP again notes:
“Although the title of hero was granted by the public, we cannot overlook the public opinion behind the wide recognition,” a commentary published on Monday on Shanghai Observer, a website of the party-run Liberation Daily, said.
“People don’t care if [he] was the first whistle-blower. What they care about is those who are loyal to the people and who answer their concerns.
“The reason that Li caused a public sensation is that he is an ordinary man doing what everyone would do. Making him a hero is [about] protecting their own rights.
Of course, you wouldn't learn all this from "Asia Review"
"Asia Review" also claims that China is not faking numbers because of unusually low mortality rates and there aren't trucks of dead bodies. I have not personally seen that claim but we know that China is faking their numbers for many reasons
Statisticians (China’s Coronavirus Figures Don’t Add Up. ‘This Never Happens With Real Data.’ - Barron's) note that the data do not look like real data
While there're no reports I can find about trucks of dead bodies, the high number of urns (Lines of urns in Wuhan prompt questions about the veracity of China’s COVID-19 death toll | National Post), the constant activity of crematoria (Estimates Show Wuhan Death Toll Far Higher Than Official Figure) and your only being counted if you die after being diagnosed (Can We Believe Any of China’s Coronavirus Numbers? | Time) suggest that the official numbers are wrong. The fact that even "respected Beijing gynecologist Dr. Gong Xiaoming" doesn't believe the official statistics are accurate is telling. Their changing their definition of coronavirus infections 7 times in 3 months contrary to global best practices doesn't inspire confidence either.
Meanwhile "Asia Review" claims that Japan, France and Italy have not been accused of coverups by the "Western media".
They must not have been looking very hard. Japan (Coronavirus in Japan: why is the infection rate relatively low?, A Coronavirus Explosion Was Expected in Japan. Where Is It? - Article - BNN) has been criticised for covering up their numbers - on far less evidence than China. And Italy and France are counting deaths more broadly than China, so this is a very strange form of tu quoque; "Asia Review" claims China doesn't coverup and points fingers at other countries not being accused of covering up despite doing less to "cover up" (in only one area, mind you) than China. If you're going to accuse countries doing less to "cover up" than China of covering up, that means China is even more guilty of covering up than them.
When the Chinese government officially promotes (on multiple occasions) the ridiculous conspiracy theory that covid-19 came from the US (US-China spar over coronavirus origin | China News | Al Jazeera), or Italy, or even that Li was a Communist Party Hero despite having been persecuted by the state (China’s COVID-19 disinformation push, aided by Canadian group, raises concerns about next pandemic | National Post) the level of gaslighting by "Asia Review" is preposterous.
Furthermore, someone on the second friend's Facebook wall points out:
"im quite sure this is a propaganda website tho
all the articles are written in march. isnt it a little suspect that a news source has such a short article history? then quick google search on the website name shows no history either. i can only conclude deep-rooted propaganda machinery or a zealot owner at work. altho i admit some predesposed skepticism due to the subject matter."