Should we take official Chinese figures for the #covid19 death toll at face value? Definitely not. But just bc we can assume that the Chinese govt is fudging figures does NOT mean that we believe anything that supports that. French media is going gaga over the new allegations. 1/
Take this op-ed in @Le_Figaro, the oldest & one of the most reputable French newspapers. It cites an economist's blog – calling it a "reputable Chinese site"
– which claims there could have been 59,000 #covid19 deaths in Wuhan alone. 2/
lefigaro.fr/vox/monde/covi…
It then says: "since March 23, Wuhan funeral homes have on average given out 3,500 urns per day to the families of victims". Even the unverified social media posts from which this claim originates don't go so far as to say that all the urns are those of #covid19 victims. 3/
The op-ed goes on to say that "these numbers are starting to circulate in Asian media"... linking to AsiaNews.it, a "missionary" site on "Christianity, the Church and pope John Paul II". The "About Us" page was last updated in 2003: asianews.it/news-en/About-… 4/
The piece was written by 1/ a "renowned Sinologist and academic", 2/ a member of the Liu Xiaobo Committee, and 3/ a journalist who was a Beijing correspondent for @lemondefr and a member of the China group for human rights org @LDH_Fr 5/
The authors called the official figures "a lie that has dramatic repercussions since it explains in part the lack of reaction from European countries at the beginning of the crisis". 6/
They also ask: "Will the government of France, and more broadly those of other affected countries, have the courage to ask the Beijing government to take responsibility for part of the [astronomical cost to our societies and economies]"? 7/
We 100% need to hold power accountable. We 100% need to question the CCP. But it is irresponsible for activists/journalists/experts to latch onto any ol' social media or blog post that fits the narrative they want to push (and one they know their audience will easily believe). 8/
Combatting dodgy data with shoddy reporting doesn't help anyone. Running pieces just because they fit the narrative hurts the important, difficult, real journalism that's done by brave journalists in China. We need to do better. @FigaroVox #COVID19fr 9/
Special thanks to @shawnxyny for his excellent reporting on China and #covid19, which has helped me immensely to make sense of the different reports floating around. 10/
*does NOT mean that we *should*
H/t @SinoVoices https://t.co/ZKyjYc7v1z
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