‘Empire of lies’: China lashes out at US, rejects state department disinformation report

China lashed out at the United States, on Saturday (Sep 30) and called it a true “empire of lies” after the US State Department accused Beijing of spending billions of dollars every year to spread disinformation across the world. 

This comes a day after Washington, in its report also alleged that Beijing is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets. 

‘Empire of lies’

China hit back at the US and said that the report itself is “disinformation as it misrepresents facts and truth.” 

“In fact, it is the US that invented the weaponizing of the global information space,” added the statement by the Chinese foreign ministry.

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The agencies of the US State Department that produced the report “were the source of false information and the command post of ‘cognitive warfare’,” said the statement. 

It added, “Facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the true ‘empire of lies’”. 

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson also referenced the “enormous lie made up to smear China’s Xinjiang policy.” This comes as Beijing has repeatedly rejected accusations that it has incarcerated more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in the northwestern region. 

“More and more people in the world have already seen through the U.S.’s ugly attempt to perpetuate its supremacy by weaving lies into ‘emperor’s new clothes’ and smearing others,” Beijing said. 

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‘Major setbacks’

The report by the US also comes amid controversy over China’s supposed attempts to increase the global footprint of its government-controlled media. 

The US report also claimed that Beijing has been sponsoring online influencers and securing distribution agreements that promote unlabelled Chinese government content.

The US State Department’s Global Engagement Center citing public reports and “newly acquired government information,” also said that China has created its own information ecosystem by co-opting foreign political elites and journalists.

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According to the report, Chinese data harvesting enabled Beijing to “fine-tune global censorship by targeting specific individuals and organizations.”

The report also warns that “Beijing’s efforts could result in…a sharp contraction of global freedom of expression.” 

However, it also noted that despite unprecedented resources devoted to the campaign, Beijing had encountered “major setbacks”. These setbacks have been attributed to local media and civil society push-back. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

 

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