Washington's disinformation campaign lethal: China Daily editorial

The US State Department issued a statement on its website on Monday claiming that Chinese officials and media "routinely amplify Kremlin propaganda, conspiracy theories, and disinformation" on the Ukraine issue.

This once again lays bare that when it comes to disinformation campaigns and the fabrication of conspiracy theories, Washington has no equal.

Since the tensions between Ukraine and Russia flared up, the United States has not only fanned the flames to trigger the conflict but also tried to cajole others into taking its side, criticizing those countries that have refused to follow its lead.

This has hindered efforts to defuse the situation, since any countries that do not dance to the US tune are subject to finger-pointing vilification, and any news media that refuses to parrot the fabricated narrative spoon-fed to Western media organizations is accused of spreading misinformation.

The US State Department's statement on its website specifically attacks Beijing for its recent criticism of Washington funding biolabs in Ukraine, calling the criticism "fabricated accusations". But, in fact, the US has admitted that it has 26 biolabs in Ukraine in the working document it submitted last year to the meeting of the State Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention. And, according to a fact sheet released by the US Department of Defense in March, the US is sponsoring 46 facilities in Ukraine. All this is not disinformation but facts straight from the horse's mouth.

The blame game that the US is engaging in is aimed at obstructing other countries from promoting a cease-fire in Ukraine, as the US wants to prolong its proxy war against Russia in a bid to at least significantly weaken its long-time adversary.

And its campaign of disinformation serves to not only manufacture consent for its otherwise unjustifiable incendiary intents with regard to Russia but also provides it with means to tar China with a malign brush.

But this misleads the public, hinders diplomatic efforts to promote peace talks, prolongs the sufferings of the Ukrainian people and disrupts the world's energy and food supply chains.

The United Nations warned on Wednesday that the number of people without enough to eat on a daily basis is set to reach "appalling" levels as the Ukraine conflict affects global food production and supply.

It projects that an additional 47 million people will become food insecure to the point of "crisis or worse" as a direct result of the conflict in Ukraine. That is in addition to the almost 193 million people in 53 countries who suffered acute food insecurity in 2021 due to the "toxic triple combination" of conflict, weather extremes and the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Millions are at risk of starving because rather than devoting its efforts to ending the conflict and bolstering the urgent humanitarian actions that are needed to address the acute food needs of many countries, Washington is spreading lies, damned lies and falsifications so it can prolong the conflict in Ukraine.