#China’s Party-controlled press is now furiously busy scrubbing its reports regarding Swiss biologist “Wilson Edwards” said to be embroiled in a @WHO#covid scandal however...
The statement from #Switzerland’s Embassy in #China regarding “Wilson Edwards”...
A Google search shows the @globaltimesnews piece aaaaaand the page now...
A Google search shows the People’s Daily piece aaaaand the page now...
But the winner tonight is... @ChinaDaily ! Still flying the flag for Swiss biologist Wilson Edwards!
There’s gotta be some Swiss comedian preparing to go to town on the super-Swiss-sounding “Wilson Edwards” and his incredible career as a biologist. #China#Switzerland
16 years into the future there will be all these Swiss blokes struggling to impress women who can’t understand why the teenager talking to them is named Wilson.
In all seriousness though, #China’s Party-controlled media has clearly been ordered to go big on the #coronavirus misinformation in recent days (maybe to pre-empt Biden’s follow-up report?). Enter renowned Swiss biologist Willson Edwards!
Here’s @CGTNOfficial’s story on the mysterious Wilson Edwards and alleged #US “intimidation”. It’s what you get when a society has no media which is allowed to cast the Chinese government in a bad light and when “journalists” jump to attention when called to defend the Party.
Canadian Robert Shellenberg has lost an appeal & faces execution in #China for trying to smuggle drugs to #Australia. The Canadian Ambassador said it was "no coincidence" his verdict was announced while the extradition hearing of #China's Meng Wanzhou is on in #Canada.
Shellenberg first received a 15-year prison sentence after being charge with drug smuggling. However - following the detention of #Huawei's Meng Wanzhou in #Canada on a #US extradition request - the Canadian was "re-tried" and then instead given the death penalty.
The Shellenberg case - along with the cases involving Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - have been described as hostage diplomacy on the part of #Beijing. China's foreign affairs spokespeople have themselves linked the Spavor & Kovrig cases to #Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.
There have been threats of violence and personal family-targeted abuse send to the private phones of those working in the foreign media as part of this clearly-orchestrated campaign of harassment, especially focusing on the BBC. This followed reporting on the #Henan floods.
You have to ask why organs of the Communist Party are doing this given that the reporting I’ve seen would appear to engender sympathy for the people of #Henan. What it would it would seem to show is that there’s something to hide or something to distract from there? #China
Should read: There have been threats of violence + personal family-targeted abuse sent to the private phones of those working in the foreign media as part of a clearly-orchestrated campaign of harassment, especially focusing on the BBC. This followed reporting on #Henan’s floods.
There’s been an orchestrated campaign against the foreign media in #Zhengzhou, fuelled by the Communist Youth League. So the strategy to try to make it a patriotic duty to harass those doing real reporting to distract from criticism of bad infrastructure not coping with flooding?
The Communist Party is very good at manufacturing “outrage” in #China and social media is used because then it can all be chalked up to the supposedly spontaneous response of “netizens” whoever the hell they are.
Kind of amazing how the “netizens” who are blocked from seeing the BBC because their government doesn’t trust them suddenly have access to the BBC when it’s time for them to “express their anger”.
It seems remarkable that a leader of #China has not visited the Tibetan Autonomous Region since Jiang Zemin in 1990. As an indication of how sensitive Xi Jinping's visit has been, state media didn't even report his arrival on Wednesday until today!
In highly-orchestrated scenes, Xi Jinping has been welcomed by ethnic Tibetans in traditional dress. #China
Chinese and Indian soldiers have been involved in deadly clashes in the Tibetan border region in recent years. As an indication of the area’s strategic importance, Xi Jinping was accompanied by senior PLA General Zhang Youxia. #China#Tibet
Heartbreaking story in #China today: the 26-year old teacher’s tearful re-union with the parents who’ve been looking for him since he was 2 years old. His father never gave up the search, famously riding a motorbike from town to town with banners carrying his son’s photo.
Twenty four years ago, the two year old was taken from the doorway directly in front of his family’s home. The police say they finally found him with a DNA match + that two suspects (a man and a woman) have been arrested for allegedly abducting the child and selling him in 1997.
Guo Gangtang’s relentless, decades-long search for his son on the back of a motorbike led to a film adaption of his story. He used the subsequent fame to help the parents of other missing children in #China but couldn’t find his own boy... until now.