BEIJING, June 11. /TASS/. China doubts the credibility and the reliability of the European Commission report about Russian and Chinese involvement in orchestrating disinformation campaigns against the EU member states in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday.
"The published 16-pages report of the European Commission diligently avoids a large number of obvious facts, while specifically pointing fingers at China. This false mentioning of China is disinformation in itself, and it calls into question the report’s reliability and credibility," the diplomat said.
She also noted that China, that managed to take the coronavirus infection spread under control in a short time span, "provides feasible aid to other nations who need it."
"We have never resorted to self-promotion and never used any false information to improve our image," the spokeswoman said.
She noted that China is ready to strengthen international cooperation to fight the coronavirus. "We are ready to step up the dialogue, the communication and cooperation on this issue with the international community, including Russia," the diplomat said.
On Wednesday, the European Commission published a statement, saying that "foreign actors and certain third countries, in particular Russia and China, have engaged in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighbourhood, and globally."
This is not the first time the EU accused Russia and China of disinformation campaigns. In late April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the EU claims about the disinformation regarding the coronavirus situation, allegedly spread by Russia and China, are uncorroborated. According to the minister, Russia got used to the fact that "the Western colleagues more and more often look for unifying motives over Russian or some other threat."