Ever since the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic wrecked havoc in the world, China has made multiple attempts to deflect the attention, albeit unsuccessfully. The latest from the playbook of the Chinese Communist Party is to manufacture a pneumonia from Kazakhstan which is far ‘deadlier’ then the Wuhan coronavirus. As the news trickled out, there was widespread panic, as the news of yet another deadly virus spread fear among the masses. Turns out, it was nothing but a fabricated lie as Kazakhstan has come out and branded it as “fake news”.
The Chinese Communist Party is facing severe international heat over the China made pandemic, border stand off with India, adventurism in the South China Sea and the decision to unilaterally change the status quo in Hong Kong. At a time when the world has set its prying eyes on China’s expansionism and misadventures, the CCP desperately needs some breathing space and hence, have indulged in spreading fake news about an unknown pneumonia which is far more lethal than the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan took to WeChat to warn its citizens about a “significant increase” in cases of an unknown pneumonia in the Kazakh cities of Atyrau, Aktobe and Shymkent since the turn of June.
According to the Chinese embassy’s statement, in the first half of this year, pneumonia in Kazakhstan has killed 1,772 people with record 628 deaths in June alone. The statement however didn’t clarify whether the unknown virus belonged to the family of coronavirus strains or a different strain altogether.
As panic started to spread, Kazakhstan’s healthcare ministry hit back at China as it labelled the news as “fake” as it sought to calm the nerves by stressing that the country’s numbers of bacterial, fungal and viral pneumonia infections, including unclear causes, were in sync with World Health Organisation guidelines.
The Ministry said, “The information published by some Chinese media regarding a new kind of pneumonia in Kazakhstan is incorrect.” The statement further read, “In response to these reports, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan officially declares that this information does not correspond to reality,”
The CCP then deployed its propaganda outlet, Global Times as the publication claimed that Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry “did not respond to questions about the Chinese embassy’s warning.”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman said, ”We would also like to get more information. China hopes to work together with Kazakhstan to fight the epidemic and to safeguard the two countries public health security.”
Ironically, China who knowingly delayed sharing information with the world and thus blinding the world of the imminent disaster, is now seeking information from Kazakhstan. During the initial stages of the pandemic, China sought to blame the US military of brining the virus to Wuhan and till date refuses to accept that the virus originated in Wuhan. It also attempted to buy good press across the world, but the Chinese PR articles fell flat on their face as the readers squarely rejected any attempt of spreading the Chinese propaganda. This might be another desperate bid by the CCP to turn the spotlight away from China.