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7/5 More than 50 NIH scientists fired due to China ties. Hundreds more under investigation.
By co-opting scientists and academics while aggressively promoting lockdowns through social media propaganda, China made lockdown pseudoscience seem sound. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientists-have-lost-their-jobs-result-nih-probe-foreign-ties
By co-opting scientists and academics while aggressively promoting lockdowns through social media propaganda, China made lockdown pseudoscience seem sound. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/fifty-four-scientists-have-lost-their-jobs-result-nih-probe-foreign-ties
8/5 Though CCP's influence operations in media, politics, and academia were surreptitious, its stance in support of global adoption of COVID lockdowns was explicit. Here is China's foreign spokesperson promoting strict social distancing among children: https://twitter.com/SpokespersonCHN/status/1246665952139198464
9/5 In speech this morning at @HudsonInstitute, @FBI director Chris Wray says CCP specifically approached local politicians to endorse its COVID lockdowns.
https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832?s=21 https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832
https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832?s=21 https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/1280517599948877832
10/5 "in fact, we have heard from federal, state, and even local officials that Chinese diplomats are aggressively urging support for China’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis. Yes, this is happening at both the federal and state levels." https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-threat-posed-by-the-chinese-government-and-the-chinese-communist-party-to-the-economic-and-national-security-of-the-united-states
11/5 This collage is a tiny sample of the fake accounts CCP used to popularize COVID lockdowns.
In these Tweets, CCP sends its regards to the world by denigrating every other government in the world, using many dialects, and contrasting them with its authoritarian "success."
In these Tweets, CCP sends its regards to the world by denigrating every other government in the world, using many dialects, and contrasting them with its authoritarian "success."
12/5 These Tweets were easily identified using leads in
@paulmozur's NYT article. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
Here, hundreds of fake accounts whine about "washing their hands" while China locks down. Nearly identical Tweets are made in many languages.
fake Spanish Tweets—
@paulmozur's NYT article. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/08/technology/china-twitter-disinformation.html
Here, hundreds of fake accounts whine about "washing their hands" while China locks down. Nearly identical Tweets are made in many languages.
fake Spanish Tweets—
13/5 Twitter responded the following day by saying they'd removed the 170,000 accounts in this campaign. https://nytimes.com/2020/06/11/technology/twitter-chinese-misinformation.html
But Twitter lied. These fake CCP accounts, and presumably hundreds of thousands of others, are still doing CCP's bidding.
fake French Tweets—
But Twitter lied. These fake CCP accounts, and presumably hundreds of thousands of others, are still doing CCP's bidding.
fake French Tweets—
14/5 In cooperation with FBI, National Science Foundation reports between 14-18 cases of undisclosed China financial ties.
This is in addition to the 175 cases of undisclosed China financial ties earlier reported by the NIH, a much larger organization. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02051-8
This is in addition to the 175 cases of undisclosed China financial ties earlier reported by the NIH, a much larger organization. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02051-8
15/5 “Sweden—partly due to its own COVID-19 response—has been a prime target of a Chinese campaign portraying Western democracies as weak against the threat. Sweden is one of few countries that ordered no lockdown and put its faith in herd immunity.” https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Sweden-China-ties-grow-ever-icier-over-Hong-Kong-and-coronavirus
16/5 The fall that shut down the world.
This video of a Wuhan man “falling dead” from COVID went viral in January. Farcical, in hindsight.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/china/video-2094890/Video-Dramatic-footage-shows-people-collapsing-suddenly-Wuhan-city.html
This video of a Wuhan man “falling dead” from COVID went viral in January. Farcical, in hindsight.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/china/video-2094890/Video-Dramatic-footage-shows-people-collapsing-suddenly-Wuhan-city.html
17/ In CCP interview, Editor-in-Chief of Lancet praises CCP’s lockdowns:
"not only the right thing to do, but it also showed other countries how they should respond in the face of such an acute threat. So, I think we have a great deal to thank China for" https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187265.shtml
"not only the right thing to do, but it also showed other countries how they should respond in the face of such an acute threat. So, I think we have a great deal to thank China for" https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187265.shtml
18/ @WHO was instrumental in pushing world leaders to adopt China's lockdowns and insisting lockdowns not be lifted until strict tracing criteria were met.
Bruce Aylward is the same WHO leader who disconnected a live interview when asked about Taiwan. https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-26/-Copy-China-s-response-to-COVID-19-WHO-expert-urges--OnNfwORI3u/index.html
Bruce Aylward is the same WHO leader who disconnected a live interview when asked about Taiwan. https://newseu.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-26/-Copy-China-s-response-to-COVID-19-WHO-expert-urges--OnNfwORI3u/index.html
19/ South Dakota Governor @govkristinoem famously refused to issue a state lockdown.
Her decision didn't sit well with Beijing. CCP's army of fake accounts began filling her Twitter feed with abuse to punish her disobedience and pressure her to shut down her state.
Her decision didn't sit well with Beijing. CCP's army of fake accounts began filling her Twitter feed with abuse to punish her disobedience and pressure her to shut down her state.
20/ By contrast, the accounts heap praise on governors who tighten lockdowns, like Dan Andrews, gov of Victoria, AUS.
Andrews' long-time staffer attended a high-level CCP academy. An MP leading Andrews' Belt & Road negotiations with Beijing lauded China's handling of COVID.
Andrews' long-time staffer attended a high-level CCP academy. An MP leading Andrews' Belt & Road negotiations with Beijing lauded China's handling of COVID.
21/ @BorisJohnson initially opted for herd immunity. But on Mar 13, four days after Italy's lockdown, CCP began storming his feed, likening his plan to genocide. These words almost never appear in his feed before Mar 12.
Tragically, the abuse worked, and UK locked down Mar 23.
Tragically, the abuse worked, and UK locked down Mar 23.
22/ The bold-faced lie of lockdowns is "China controlled the virus." It's an obvious lie—China's data is manifestly forged. But CCP normalizes this Orwellian lie by demanding every elite publication and journal repeat it, transforming the snake oil of lockdowns into "science."
23/ Physicist Yaneer Bar-Yam has spent months uncritically cheerleading China's lockdowns—including CCP's genocidal lockdown in Xinjiang—and promoting China's obviously-fraudulent data.
In February, Bar-Yam launched a website recommending strict lockdowns in 18 languages.
In February, Bar-Yam launched a website recommending strict lockdowns in 18 languages.
24/ Hard to think of any place more ill-suited to a total lockdown than Africa, but that's exactly what CCP's fake accounts demanded of South African President @CyrilRamaphosa on March 22. The next day, they got what they wanted, and Ramaphosa announced a total lockdown.
