I seem to recall hearing that some of the countries in the Chinese “neighborhood” are under-reporting or not reporting because they get a lot of money from China...
I think politics plays into every report coming out of that region.
Politics plays a role - of course it does.
Chicoms lie all the time if it's to their advantage - of course they do.
But the major reason the numbers are wrong is simply fog of war. I could very well be tasked with doing our numbers in three-six months, and if the situation on my town was the situation in Wuhan, accurate numbers would be the last thing on earth I'd be worried about.