China has resorted to all types of propaganda techniques to shift the blame for the origin of the COVID-19 using different conspiracy theories through political statements, state-run news media, social media as well as using rap songs.
The latest conspiracy story blames lobsters from the US. A news article claimed a cargo containing 55 boxes of Boston lobsters, which had landed in Shanghai on November 11, 2019, maybe responsible for the origin of COVID-19. The news portal named Sina said the traceability of coronavirus pointed at the cold chain of US seafood products, The HK Post reported. “Therefore, it is entirely possible for the virus to attach to the cold chain packaging of this batch of seafood products in the United States and enter the South China seafood market,” reads the article.
China has been denying the reports that coronavirus leaked from the laboratory in Wuhan. Meanwhile, in November 2020, Chinese authorities had claimed that coronavirus was found on the shrimps imported from Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, China also suspended beef imports from Brazil. The state-run Global Times said the Brazilian beef sent to the Wuhan market was found with active coronavirus, The HK Post reported.
Beijing has even blamed the US military for leaking coronavirus into China.
Zhao Lijian spokesperson for the Chinese foreign affairs ministry said “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”, The HK Post reported.
It further reported that another such spokesperson Hua Chunying demanded that a team of international experts including the World Health Organisation (WHO) be allowed to inspect the biological lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland.
The propaganda to frame the US was aimed at diverting blame from China as most of the world population believed Wuhan was the origin of the coronavirus. “Right after the Wuhan lab leak became a credible hypothesis in the US, official media in China basically doubled down on allegations that a US military lab could be the origin point of the pandemic,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow at New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. The Wuhan Lab is very close to the Wuhan wet market, which is considered as the source of COVID-19, The HK Post reported.