The rapid spread of coronavirus across the globe leaving over 2.5 million infected and 200,000 dead enhances international anger against China, which hid details, delayed its response and continues denying permission for global investigation to determine the origin of the virus. Nations, while seeking explanations from China, are permitting groups to file legal proceedings against it for the loss of human lives and economy.

China’s supply of faulty testing kits and low-quality medical equipment pushed medical preparedness of nations way behind, only adding to frustration and reducing trust in the country. The description of the disease as the China virus or the Wuhan virus angered China and it attempted to deflect the damage.

China adopted a series of different strategies commencing with defensive, moving onto ‘defensivecollaborative’, ‘offensive-defence’ to its current ‘all-out-offensive’ strategy, hoping to stem global accusations and deflect growing internal anger.

These strategies changed as international pressures mounted, accusations increased, and its leadership faced rising internal criticism for its flawed handling of the crisis and suppression of casualty figures. It simultaneously employed its army of internet warriors to activate mass social media accounts to advocate and defend Chinese strategies as they evolved, simultaneously silencing critics.

When China was impacted by the virus, it was defensive, requesting global aid, thanking nations which provided it, while sharing inputs on the virus and its containment measures through the WHO and limited media briefings. The world believed China and nations which provided aid never sought photo-ops to display their largesse.

With the virus spreading globally and nations requesting medical equipment, China switched to a ‘defensive-collaborative’ strategy, hoping to win global acclaim rather than be accused as the originator. It provided equipment, exploited mass demands for testing kits, ventilators and protective clothing by supplying poor quality products. It billed nations while touting its supplies as Chinese generosity.

China countered claims of “poor quality” stating that stores received in aid were also below Chinese quality standards. Its defective equipment impacted nations’ preparedness, resulting in them losing trust in China. As the virus spread across the US, Donald Trump began terming the virus as the ‘Chinese virus’ and Mike Pompeo called it the ‘Wuhan virus.’

The US simultaneously accused the WHO of being in league with China and enabling it to hide facts. In retaliation China shifted to an offensive-defence strategy wherein it sought to deflect discussion on the origin of the virus. It initially accused the US army of leaking the virus into Wuhan during the world military games held in October 2019. Its mouthpiece, ‘Global Times’ came out with a series of articles claiming the virus originated in a US lab.

Its spokesperson stated in mid-March, ‘When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan.’ It also attempted to shift blame to Italy but received no support. Internally it spread fake news of African residents of Wuhan being carriers of the virus, leading to them being evicted from residences, maltreated and manhandled, resulting in protests from the African continent.

Externally this strategy failed, while internally there were increasing pressures. With lifting of restrictions in Wuhan, details of malpractices, fudging of casualty data and suffering imposed on the populace began to surface. The Fang dairy is just one source of inputs. These accusations needed to be deflected. Thus, emerged the ‘all-out-offensive’ strategy.

This is a planned, organised, multi-pronged approach to convince the world and its own population that China is the only nation to have successfully controlled the coronavirus. It also projects that success is because of its form of government, emphasizing that democracies are failures and heading for collapse. This campaign has been unleashed simultaneously by comments/articles on embassy websites, publications in international media and op-eds in Chinese mouthpieces.

In France, a comment on the Chinese embassy website stated, “Residents of French retirement homes were made to sign certificates of ‘waiver of emergency care’; nursing staff abandoned their posts overnight, deserted collectively, leaving their residents to die of hunger and disease.” This led to the French government summoning the Chinese ambassador.

Similar disputes between Chinese diplomats and home countries have occurred in Germany, Netherlands, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Iran and Singapore. In Brazil, the Chinese Embassy had a spat with a Brazilian minister on his comment about China’s plan for world domination. In Sri Lanka, the Chinese Embassy twitter account was shut for inflammatory comments. The Chinese ambassador to Cyprus faced flak for stating that the world was embarrassed on how quickly China recovered and has hence resorted to ‘blame shifting and lies.’

When Australia and New Zealand joined critics demanding an investigation into the source of origin of the virus, Chinese mouthpieces accused them of joining an ‘anti-China crusade’ with the US to ‘smear China.’ Global Times has devoted maximum op-eds to accuse the US of adopting wrong strategies. In an oped it stated that the US is ‘no match for China in terms of anti-epidemic organization and mobilisation.’

Another compared the US to ‘a primitive society’, adding, ‘American democracy is dying.’ The publication also accused Trump of seeking to gain advantage in forthcoming elections by smearing Beijing. The op-ed stated, ‘China’s achievements stand the test of time. The Trump administration only wants to shirk responsibility by blackening China.’

To back them are comments by Chinese spokespersons. Hua Chunying, from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated, ‘US should know that their enemy is the virus, not China.’ It simultaneously accused the US of blackmailing the WHO by withholding funds. The anti-US approach was to convince its domestic audience that while the US is failing, China has succeeded and while it has stemmed the spread, the US loses lives daily.

China’s shifting strategy aimed at changing global perspectives will not work. It may convince its own populace, which anyway cannot protest nor accuse the government. The virus will remain the China Coronavirus. Demands for investigation of its leak would only grow louder, while trust on China would recede.

(The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army)