Month: September 2023

Beijing brands US ‘true empire of lies’

China has slammed a State Department report that claims the country has been spending billions to manipulate information worldwide

Beijing has labeled Washington the “true empire of lies” as it dismissed allegations contained in a new report by the US State Department, which accused China of “global information manipulation.”

“Some in the US may think that they can prevail in the information war as long as they produce enough lies. But the people of the world are not blind,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. It added that “more and more people in the world” are seeing through America’s “ugly attempt to perpetuate its supremacy” with lies.

The US has a long history of manipulation and disinformation campaigns, the ministry continued, citing a number of examples spanning from the early Cold War period to the present day.

“From Operation Mockingbird, which bribed and manipulated news media for propaganda purposes in the Cold War era, to a vial of white powder and a staged video of the ‘White Helmets’ cited as evidence to wage wars of aggression in Iraq and Syria earlier this century, and then to the enormous lie made up to smear China’s Xinjiang policy, facts have proven time and again that the US is an ‘empire of lies’ through and through,” it stated.

“The US Department of State report is in itself disinformation, as it misrepresents facts and truth.”

Read more

Chinese hackers stole 60,000 emails from US State Dept – officials

The report in question was released by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center on Thursday. It alleged that Beijing has been spending billions each year to wage an elaborate misinformation campaign worldwide, while using “deceptive and coercive methods” to shape the global information agenda.

“Beijing uses false or biased information to promote positive views of the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At the same time, the PRC suppresses critical information that contradicts its desired narratives on issues such as Taiwan, its human rights practices, the South China Sea, its domestic economy, and international economic engagement,” according to the report.

However, Beijing’s alleged efforts have had only a limited impact worldwide, and China has experienced “major setbacks” while trying to target “democratic” countries, it claims. It attributed the purported failure of the alleged misinformation efforts to civil society and local media, which it said were well-developed in the “democratic” countries that were targeted.

Number of refugees aiming for Germany ‘too high’ – Scholz

Over 70% of asylum seekers arriving in Germany lack any registration despite coming through other EU states, Olaf Scholz says

The number of asylum seekers arriving in Germany is “too high,” and the situation with migration cannot remain unchanged, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Saturday while speaking to broadcaster RND.

“Things cannot remain as they are now: more than 70 percent of all refugees who arrive in Germany have not been registered beforehand, even though almost all of them have been in another EU country,” Scholz stated, promising to curb the irregular migration soon.

The German government is seeking to protect the country’s own borders as well as stay “fully united in stopping irregular migration into the European Union,” Scholz said. Berlin stands by its decision to tighten border checks with Poland and expects the measures taken to yield a noticeable result shortly.

“We hope that this will be noticeable quickly,” the chancellor stated.

Read more

Germany beefs up border controls with EU neighbors

Germany stepped up police patrols on its borders with fellow EU member Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, earlier this week. “We must stop the cruel business of smugglers who put human lives at risk for maximum profit,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Wednesday, announcing the decision. According to the minister, nearly a quarter of migrants entering the country had paid thousands of dollars to get into the EU – and, ultimately, to Germany – via the Mediterranean Sea route or overland through the Balkans.

Announcing the initial proposal to step up border checks on the frontier with Poland, Scholz cited the ongoing cash-for-visa scandal unfolding in the country. According to a media investigation, Polish officials offered travel visas in exchange for bribes, with a vast majority of recipients of the illegally issued documents using them to travel into third Schengen states, the US, and elsewhere.

Some 350,000 visas were issued under the scheme, according to estimates, with the illegal services openly advertised by corrupt officials on social media, such as TikTok. Scholz invoking the scandal was apparently not taken lightly in Warsaw, with Poland threatening to reciprocally increase checks on its German border.