Hua Chunying and Zhao Lijian, the spokespeople for China’s Foreign Ministry said on their Twitter accounts that China had sent its donations of medical supplies to Italy and the Italian people were so grateful to China that some even played China’s National Anthem.
The Italian media Linkiesta published an article titled, “Enough. Thank you!” The article said that what the Chinese officials tweeted was fake news. China did send supplies to Italy, but those were not China’s donation to Italy. Rather they were what Italy bought from China after its Foreign Minister had a discussion with China’s Foreign Minister (because China had face masks and protective clothing for its own use).
The article asked the Italian government to respond to the fake news.
Related postings on Chinascope:
- Propaganda and Lies: Chinese Bots Flooded Twitter to Spread That U.S. Is the Origin of the Coronavirus
- Propaganda and Lies: People’s Daily Commentary: “Must Resist the Poison of Stigmatization”
- Propaganda and Lies: Geng Shuang, A Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Said U.S. “Stigmatizes” China
- Propaganda and Lies: Pompeo Called Yang Jiechi
- Propaganda and Lies: China’s Propaganda Machine Spread Zhao Lijian’s Accusation of the U.S.
Excerpt in Chinese:
意大利网络媒体 Linkiesta周日报道说，中国外交部发言人华春莹、赵立坚近日在twitter上散布假新闻，声称意大利人感谢中国援助并且播放中国国歌，报道批评中国官员在意大利人背后散布假新闻，并且呼吁意大利政府站出来对此做出反应。
意大利媒体报道文章的标题为：够了，多谢！文章批评中国外交部发言人是中国宣传机构的成员，他们的工作之一就是散布虚假信息，呼吁意大利政府首脑即使在对抗疫情的关键时刻也必須站出来澄清。文章并不排除确实可能有意大利人对中国运输物资表示出感谢，但是文章感叹说，倘若不是大难当头，倘若意大利是一个严肃的国家，政府领导人就应该站出来做出回应。
到目前为止尚未听到有意大利官方代表对此做出表态。
中国政府上周向意大利运送物资，物资运输包装上注明“驰援”，不过，据来自意大利的消息，这批物資是意大利外长與中国外长协调之后敲定，除了口罩，消毒液等用品之外，其馀为意大利购买物资，并非赠送，部分是意大利红十字会与中国红十字会之间的交易。
Source: Radio France International, March 16, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/欧洲/20200316-意大利媒体驳斥中国外交部公开散播假新闻?ref=tw_i