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THREAD: A widely shared story about cremation urns accuses China of concealing tens of thousands of coronavirus deaths. This is a baseless conspiracy theory being pushed by a US government propaganda network and a far-right, anti-China cult. My latest https://thegrayzone.com/2020/04/01/us-conspiracy-theory-on-china-coronavirus-trump/amp/
As the US suffers from the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, the Trump admin has launched a PR campaign to shift blame for its unconscionable failures onto China. At the heart of Washington's narrative is the accusation of a Chinese "cover-up". https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-pushes-us-officials-to-criticize-china-for-coronavirus-cover-up/main-info
.The claim that China is hiding tens of thousands of coronavirus deaths was first reported by Radio Free Asia, a US govt news agency created during the Cold War as part of a "Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the CIA", according to the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/26/archives/worldwide-propaganda-network-built-by-the-cia-a-worldwide-network.html
.Unsurprisingly RFA's evidentiary standard for making extraordinary claims about China is extremely low. RFA relies on the “basic math” of “some social media posts” to conclude that “estimates show” 42,000 to 46,800 people died from COVID-19 in Wuhan. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/wuhan-deaths-03272020182846.html
.Oddly, none of the social media posts that RFA relies on to make its damning claims are quoted in the article. This would be akin to Chinese state media outlets making claims about the US on the basis of anonymous posts found on the dark recesses of Twitter.
.RFA's "estimates" are based on morbid speculation regarding the cremation capacity of Wuhan's funeral homes. RFA cites a story by Chinese media outlet @caixin, which reported that 5,000 cremation urns arrived at one mortuary over a two-day period.
.This is treated as evidence of Chinese govt deception solely b/c it exceeds the covid-19 death total. RFA completely ignores the fact that residents have continued to die from other causes during the pandemic, and the backlog in funerals caused by the several month long lockdown
.While RFA did not disclose the source of its claims, they appear to originate from the far-right, anti-China cult, Falun Gong. In VICE’s report on the “urns” story, they cite a tweet by cult veteran Jennifer Zeng. Zeng's tweet was published one day prior to the RFA article.
.Falun Gong believes that “Trump was sent by heaven to destroy the Communist Party"; that modern science was invented by aliens to take over human bodies; that feminism, environmentalism and homosexuality are Satanic plots; and that race-mixing severs our connection to the gods.
.Zeng has been a member of Falun Gong since 1997 and works for the group's propaganda arm and The Epoch Times. NBC News revealed that spending by The Epoch Times on pro-Trump ads was “more than any organization outside of the Trump campaign itself". https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-qanon-impending-judgment-day-behind-facebook-fueled-rise-epoch-n1044121
.In addition to seeking the overthrow of the Chinese government, Falun Gong and Zeng work with American far-right forces like the Tea Party Patriots to oppose rising progressive and socialist movement in the US. Here is Zeng speaking at a Sept 2019 rally organized by TPP in DC:
