‘Put on a mask and shut up’: China’s undiplomatic diplomats hit back at critics
BEIJING — The newscast blares from a television set in a Beijing apartment, carrying through an open window and echoing across the compound. The refrain is the same every evening: praise for China’s handling of the coronavirus, dire scenes from foreign hospitals and condemnations of the United States...
Chinese ambassadors are attacking foreign officials on social media and peddling misinformation — amplified by the state-controlled press — to deflect blame for the virus that has killed a quarter of a million people and wrecked global economies...
...analysts say the menacing tone feeds patriotic sentiment in China, where the party is eager to limit the damage of an outbreak that has killed thousands and tipped the economy into decline for the first time in at least three decades.
Foreign criticism “strikes right at the heart of one of the myths that the party has been cultivating to bolster its legitimacy at home: that the (Chinese Communist Party) is efficient, competent and capable, and that it is the only one able to effectively lead the nation,” Rolland said.
“What the Coronavirus Models Can’t See”
- see https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/what-the-coronavirus-models-cant-see.html