DISINFO: Coronavirus is an attempt by the Anglo-Saxons to control China
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: sputnik.by (archived)*
  • Date of publication: February 11, 2020
  • Outlet language(s): Russian
  • Reported in: Issue 185
  • Countries / regions discussed: China, UK
Tags:
coronavirus Conspiracy theory

DISINFO: Coronavirus is an attempt by the Anglo-Saxons to control China

SUMMARY

Coronavirus is linked to the opium wars when Chinese emperors wanted to prevent the access of the British empire to Chinese domestic ports. China’s opening up happened through the active spread of opium. Today, similarly, international organisations and private medical foundations openly call on China to give them access to Chinese industrial zones saying: we will sort it out ourselves and find a vaccination. This, which the Anglo-Saxons are good at, serves as a method of opening China up and establishing external control over it.

RESPONSE

This is a coronavirus-related conspiracy theory aimed to discredit the West and the so-called Anglo-Saxons. In the pro-Kremlin media, the term “Anglo-Saxons” means “evil”, “belligerent” and “morally corrupt” Westerners, as explained by our earlier analysis.

The Opium Wars were a dark page in the British Empire and, more generally, in the West's history. However, the parallels with the current coronavirus epidemic are unfounded and only serve to groundlessly imply that the West purposefully uses it against China to reach economic and political goals.

The current coronavirus (2019-nCoV) comes from a family of viruses that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading with new cases being reported in the Asian-Pacific region as well as Europe, North America and the Middle East, causing more than 700 deaths by 10th February 2020.

The identity of the animal source of the coronavirus, named nCoV-2019, has been one of the key questions for researchers. Coronaviruses are known to circulate in mammals and birds, and scientists have already suggested that nCoV-2019 originally came from bats. One of the previous coronaviruses that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, spread from bats to civet cats to humans.

Two researchers from the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou have recently identified the pangolin as the potential source of nCoV-2019. This was announced to reporters at a press conference on 7th February 2020.

See earlier disinformation cases alleging that coronavirus was created on purpose, probably by the same British lab which poisoned the Skripals, that coronavirus is the West’s revenge for China refusing to become hostile towards Russia, and that coronavirus is a Western tool to attack Chinese economy.

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Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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