German journalists and spies are on the path of (yet) the information war against China. Judging by the latest developments in the U.S. and European infofield, China will face its own analogue of “investigations into Russian interference in elections”, only Beijing will be blamed not for hacker attacks but for the epidemic, using these accusations as an excuse for political and economic pressure. So far, the accusations against China have been concentrated in Washington and partly in London – it could be considered a mere echo of the world hegemon’s struggle with its main geopolitical rival, but after the scandalous publication of the authoritative German publication Der Spiegel, another version of events should be considered.
The collective West, despite all its internal contradictions, is ready to grasp the ideal chance to find a common enemy to which all its problems can be attributed and to which all the resources of society can be mobilized. Despite the fact that the history of the European continent hints at the perniciousness of such a strategy (and in the 20th century such an approach to our country in general led to the world war which ended in the most deplorable way for Germany), identification of an external enemy is an incredibly seductive political technique.
It is worth noting the badly concealed rapture, which is read from the articles of the British pro-government press, clearly satisfied with the fact that even the representatives of German espionage, albeit unofficially, but visibly support the anti-Chinese mood, now fashionable in Washington and London. The British Daily Mail describes the essence of German claims and accusations against China’s top leadership:
“Der Spiegel’s shocking material states that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally, during a conversation in January, asked World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebrayesus to “postpone the global warning” about the threat of COVID-19. German Der Spiegel published charges this weekend citing the German Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst). According to the BND, “On 21 January, Chinese leader Xi Jinping asked WHO head Tedros Adhanom Hebreiessus to conceal information about the transmission (Coronavirus. – Author’s note) from person to person and delay the pandemic warning. According to BND estimates, China’s information policy has resulted in a loss of four to six weeks in the fight against the virus worldwide”.
Even without taking into account WHO’s own position, it is worth noting several serious problems with this version of events. If we believe the sources of German journalists (and in this case it is difficult to find decent arguments not to believe in the use of Der Spiegel as a “drain cistern” of German special services), the question arises when and under what circumstances official Berlin received this information. Because if it was received in January, it turns out that Angela Merkel’s government ignored it and did not take any measures to isolate Germany and curb the epidemic. If the information is received later, then there are questions about the engagement of sources that “leaked” it to German spies. For after the beginning of the pandemic, there was a queue of people who wanted to use this global tragedy for political purposes, and the quality of such “information” is usually about the same as the famous “Steele dossier”, which describes the “dirty adventures of Trump” and his mythical “conspiracy with the Kremlin” sucked out of several British, Moscow and Australian media analytical fingers.
It is indicative that the World Health Organization, despite some sluggishness inherent in any major UN structure, reacted quickly: “Der Spiegel’s report of a telephone conversation between WHO Director-General Tedros Adhan Gebreius and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21, 2020 is unfounded and untrue. Dr Tedros and President Xi did not speak on 21 January, and they never spoke on the phone. Such inaccurate reports are distracting and challenging for WHO and the world at large in their efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Note that on 20 January China confirmed the transfer of the new coronavirus from person to person.
The totally killing statement for Der Spiegel and its BND sources that China officially confirmed the transfer of the virus from person to person the day before the alleged conversation with the request to slow down this confession is easily verified. For example, it can be found in the British (!) Guardian, which published material on January 20 under the heading “China confirms the transfer of coronavirus from person to person”.
One can, of course, try to play the role of “devil’s advocate” and assume (as American, British and German journalists are likely to do) that the conversation was about a person-to-person transmission not being recognized at the level of the WHO, which enjoys great authority and whose opinion was guided by Western countries – but it will look like a completely helpless excuse for a mediocre information stuffing. However, historical experience teaches us that even such an obvious failure of sources Der Spiegel will not affect the political consequences, because in a few weeks about the rebuttal of the WHO all will forget, and (probably never existed at all) conversation between Xi Jinping and the head of the WHO will be presented to a Western audience as a fact, “confirmed by German intelligence. And if similar pseudo-confirmations are received from British and American intelligence agencies, any Western politician who dares to defend the expediency of economic (let alone political) cooperation with China will be under the gun of counterintelligence and the media as a potential “Chinese agent.”
A few decades ago, when the era of total “posttrafficking” was just beginning, the authors of such a low-quality stuff would have to justify themselves and, on the move, offer a refined and refined version of “dirtbag” in order to take into account criticism, but in our time this is almost never necessary. In the best case, and we know it again from our own experience, it will take years to “dismantle” the charges, and even then the information sludge and slightly tarnished image will remain, as will the sanctions imposed for mythical crimes.
It is this scenario now looks quite probable, and this probability will grow with every article or story, in which, with reference to authoritative sources from Western intelligence agencies, official Beijing and Xi Jinping personally will be accused of the pandemic. To paraphrase Mayakovsky, we can say that if such “Hailey Likley” appears on the pages of Western media, someone really needs it. And this someone will not stop until the global world is once again divided into two camps that are in a full-fledged Cold War, which could turn into a hot military clash at any moment.
Ivan Danilov, RIA