China Praises Itself and Xi for Its Handling of Coronavirus

The CCP under Xi Jinping legitimizes its dictatorship with claims of flawless “scientific” management. China has no elections, only meticulously orchestrated party and state extravaganzas. Beijing cannot allow reports of mistakes, mismanagement, or deceptions to stand.


The June 6 report of the CCP’s Central Committee on the coronavirus pandemic must be understood in this light.

Xu Lin, Deputy Secretary, presented a 66-page white paper entitled Fighting Covid-19: China in Action. It is full of self-praise for the CCP’s flawless handling of the Corona virus in China. The report is the first official assessment of the Chinese party and state’s handling of the COVID pandemic. The White paper is being distributed throughout China’s massive state media. It represents the official CCP party line to be repeated and defended with one voice both at home and worldwide.

The White Paper claims that China did everything right. Chairman Xi is mentioned favorably 44 times in the report.


Xu Lin summarized the White Paper as follows:


"The Chinese leadership has released information about the outbreak of the disease promptly, openly, and precisely, at all times. The White Paper shows that China responded directly to the concerns of the population and acted responsibly for human life, for the people, for history and for the international community."


There were no mistakes. After all, the battle against coronavirus was led according to the “centralized and efficient” command of none other than the Great Leader, Xi Jinping.

Moreover, China has been a good international citizen. The White Paper assures that “China Conducts Active International Exchanges and Cooperation” and has shown “International Solidarity and Cooperation in Fighting the Pandemic.”


These assurances ring hollow when compared with the accounts of international reporters, local health officials, bloggers, and a vast array of social media. These entities provide extensive evidence that, especially at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, China's leadership ignored and covered up information that could have been used to confine the spread to Wuhan. Whistleblowers were silenced and reporters disappeared, local newspapers were censored, and cooperation with international specialists was turned down.


China’s state-controlled media are distributing the White Paper’s narrative worldwide through their foreign channels and their production companies, in English, in German and in other languages. China’s massive propaganda onslaught will not rest until the world is convinced that China was not the goat of the worldwide coronavirus epidemic but its hero.


Journalists who want to research the contents of the White Paper beware: Chinese journalists who have reported from Wuhan have disappeared without a trace in the past few months. Several foreign reporters were expelled. Writing about China’s role in the virus spread is dangerous business.