The whole country is structured so that verification by foreigners is next to impossible:
Foreign journalists cannot freely report from within the country. If the government does not like your reporting, you are forced to leave the country.
Information controls ensure that communication with China & the western world is controlled and subject to scrutiny. People in China cannot legally access most foreign news, or communicate with foreigners on social media. You cannot even access hackernews legally in China!
This creates an environment where it's extremely hard to actually vet any information about China, as there is such a strong communications barrier. Both for professional journalists and regular civilians. There is this immense culture of secrecy and information control that does not exist on the same scale anywhere else in the world.
Unsurprisingly this creates a situation where people distrust the words of the Chinese government. They have created this apparatus that prevents foreigners from verifying Chinese information.
It is widely known that when the new coronavirus emerged in December 2019, the Chinese government downplayed the pandemic threat for several critical weeks. Less commonly known is those same authorities deliberately sacrificed health workers to maintain their lies.
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) calculated cover-up enabled the coronavirus to go global. By silencing doctors, Beijing not only fueled this pandemic but also compromised the world’s ability to spot the next one.
Blaming China is pointless: Western countries had control of their borders and did not act.
Taiwan started its lockdown procedures on people entering from China on December 31st, 2019.
Taiwan knew what was happening, and all governments should have had similar knowledge - they certainly should not have been waiting for China to tell WHO or whatever other lame argument that article makes.
I am sick of the same boring cliché arguments being trotted out about how we think China should act: how we act is what matters.
I agree that the fault also lies with other countries for letting the virus in so easily. But the grandparent poster asked for an example where the CCP lied and I obliged.
The full story there is the local authorities lied initially, then the feds found out and fired them while slamming the red alert button. Mayor of Wuhan and Governor of Hubei sacked in the aftermath. This all happened MONTHS before the virus hit the US.
January 20th, 2020: “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
February 11th, 2020: “In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it’s actually less.”
February 26th, 2020: “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
March 10th, 2020: “This was unexpected. … And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
True, those were rather blatant lies, but also obvious lies. In the US, at least the lies of the government are easily exposed. In China, that's a lot harder.
> In review, Foreign Policy covers news related to foreign affairs with minimal bias. Headlines are generally free from loaded words, though at times moderate such as this: Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Pass the Commander-in-Chief Test (anti-progressive) and this Trump Doesn’t Want to Play Peacemaker (anti-Trump). Both articles use proper sourcing. In general, Foreign Policy leans slightly right in their news coverage but balanced in reporting and well-sourced.
This is hilarious. I wonder if there's a political group that benefits from attacking both these positions.
yeah, the old clintonites, the sinemas, maybe you can toss mitt romney in there. they're the most powerful political bloc currently, if you're new to politics
Basically the entire national security mainstream.
If you consider "america should be the number one power and do whatever it takes to stay that way" to be an unbiased and neutral statement, then sure, Foreign Policy is unbiased.
I wouldn't go to them for a viewpoint inclusive of American rivals, though.
ok, so is it correct that you're suggesting that mediabiasfactcheck is giving a better rating to FP in order to benefit those groups? Sorry if i'm seeming indirect, but i'm still trying to piece together your actual point
Foreign journalists cannot freely report from within the country. If the government does not like your reporting, you are forced to leave the country.
Information controls ensure that communication with China & the western world is controlled and subject to scrutiny. People in China cannot legally access most foreign news, or communicate with foreigners on social media. You cannot even access hackernews legally in China!
This creates an environment where it's extremely hard to actually vet any information about China, as there is such a strong communications barrier. Both for professional journalists and regular civilians. There is this immense culture of secrecy and information control that does not exist on the same scale anywhere else in the world.
Unsurprisingly this creates a situation where people distrust the words of the Chinese government. They have created this apparatus that prevents foreigners from verifying Chinese information.