That means there is no such thing as a “free press” in China, only the semblance of an ‘independent’ media that is regularly spoon-fed whatever information the government wants to divulge.
This authoritarian ‘media’ system works both ways: Not only do the Communists control what information is released, they also control what information is not released.
And, we are learning when it comes to the government’s statements regarding the coronavirus outbreak, Beijing’s leaders are having a difficult time keeping their stories straight, which, political analysts note, is a really good indication that they are lying to the world (and their own people).
As reported Wednesday by The Epoch Times, Chinese state media released two different reports Feb. 3 that made contradictory statements regarding the supply of diagnostic kits for the “novel coronavirus.”
According to one report, “At State Council’s press conference on Feb, 3, Tian Yulong, chief engineer of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, announced that by Feb. 1, the daily output of the diagnosis kits had reached 773,000, which is 40 times the number of suspected patients. Therefore, China’s medical facilities now have a sufficient supply of diagnosis kits.”
But the other report quoted one medical expert as claiming that there is actually a shortage of diagnostic kits in Wuhan City, where the coronavirus outbreak began.
“Li Lanjuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and one of the medical experts at the National Health Commission, led a team to Wuhan to engage in the rescue work,” the report said. “In an interview with China Central TV (CCTV) on Feb. 3, Li said that there is currently a shortage of diagnosis kits in Wuhan. Therefore, not everyone [who exhibits symptoms of the novel coronavirus] can receive the diagnostic test.”
The conflicting reports indicate that the number of “suspected coronavirus patients” is actually much higher than the government’s official figures, The Epoch Times reported.
Maintaining legitimacy is more important than keeping citizens alive
The site noted further:
Also, the key issue is that many suspected patients are intentionally turned away by hospitals. Those who have not been confirmed will not be given a hospital bed, and they will not be counted into the official figures. If they die undiagnosed, they will not be counted in the death toll or fatality rate, either.
The site noted further that “many patients” perished before they were actually diagnosed with the infection, and that includes Huangshi City Mayor Yang Xiaobo. Officials said he “died from severe pneumonia,” but that’s not accurate, according to reports.
Observers claimed that if this retired high-ranking official was not confirmed to have had the virus by doctors, it’s a sure bet that ordinary citizens won’t be given the opportunity to prove their illness via testing.
In a separate report, Natural News founder/editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, noted that Chinese government officials may be keeping two sets of pandemic numbers, as ‘leaked’ infection figures put it at 154,000 victims and deaths approaching 25,000 — far higher than official numbers.
Zero Hedge reported, “As Taiwan [News] reports in a report first spotted by user @TheHKGroup, over the weekend, Tencent ‘seems to have inadvertently released what is potentially the actual number of infections and deaths, which were astronomically higher than official figures,’ and were far closer to the catastrophic epidemic projections made by Jonathan Read.”
Taiwan News added, “Netizens also noticed that each time the screen with the large numbers appears, it shows a comparison with the previous day’s data which demonstrates a ‘reasonable’ incremental increase, much like comparisons of official numbers. This has led some netizens to speculate that Tencent has two sets of data, the real data and ‘processed’ data.”
So, why fake the numbers? Because the Chinese Communists fear losing the truth and support of the people more than they fear a few thousand deaths from a virus Beijing obviously has not yet figured out how to contain.
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