Beijing and Moscow join forces in ‘information war’ as China-US relations rapidly deteriorate
- Appeal by China and Russia for countries to reject politicisation of the coronavirus pandemic, disinformation and oppression of media
- In recent weeks US President Trump and his administration have stepped up anti-China speech, including making their own call to ‘free nations’
China and Russia would team up in the information war, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said, as Beijing’s ideological fight with the United States intensified.
In a veiled criticism against the US, Hua Chunying, who is also the director of the ministry’s press department, and her Russian counterpart Maria Zakharova said “certain countries have been spreading disinformation” because of their “ideological bias and political needs”.
They had been “distorting history, attacking other countries’ social systems and development paths, politicising the pandemic, pinning labels on the virus and restricted and oppressed foreign media for doing their job”, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement at the weekend.
The remarks, which were made on Friday, came as confrontations between China and the US continue to flare up on a variety of fronts, from Beijing’s early handling of the coronavirus outbreak to the introduction of a national security law in Hong Kong.
In an unprecedented move since the start of formal diplomatic relations in 1979, Beijing ordered the US to shut its consulate in Chengdu on Friday in retaliation for Washington’s decision to close its mission in Houston which a US official accused of being the “epicentre” of research theft by Chinese military in the US.