Yonden Lhatoo

Just Saying | Why China is amplifying a conspiracy theory to blame America for coronavirus crisis

Yonden Lhatoo breaks down a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman’s claim that the US military is behind the Covid-19 pandemic, highlighting the extent of mistrust and toxic state of relations between the two sides

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Medical professionals test samples from Covid-19 patients for diagnostic work at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University in Hubei province. Photo: Xinhua

Yonden Lhatoo

Published: 7:28pm, 14 Mar 2020Updated: 10:36pm, 14 Mar 2020

There’s no dearth of conspiracy theories flying around about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, from reckless speculation in news reports to silly nonsense spread by social media, and they’re all best left ignored at a time of global panic and paranoia.

But when a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry jumps on the tinfoil-hat bandwagon to accuse the US military of unleashing a deadly disease that has infected well over 140,000 people in more than 120 countries, it begs closer scrutiny to understand what exactly is going on.

Zhao Lijian set off a storm this week by taking to Twitter to suggest there was something more to the story after the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention admitted, without giving a time frame, that some influenza deaths in America had turned out to be Covid-19 cases.

“When did patient zero begin in the US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be the US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian is known for his confrontational Twitter outbursts. Photo: Kyodo

The incendiary tweet echoed a Canada-based conspiracy website’s unsubstantiated claims that America was the real source of the coronavirus, apparently linking it to the US Army’s participation in the Military World Games, which drew competitors from more than 100 countries to Wuhan last October before the Chinese city became ground zero for the pandemic.

On the face of it, China has just accused the US of a jaw-dropping act of war, prompting the State Department to summon Beijing’s ambassador to Washington for a dressing down.

Of course, Zhao has a reputation for being a bit of a loose cannon with a trigger-happy tweet finger, so Beijing can conveniently explain it away as rogue commentary in a personal capacity rather than an official statement. But it’s also obvious he would not dare go so far without authorisation from higher up.