China is underreporting coronavirus numbers to ‘extend political influence’: CCP expert
A country with 1.4 billion people, China has reported a total of 100,000 cases and 4,820 deaths from COVID-19
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The United States and the rest of the world should be highly skeptical of the coronavirus-related statements and statistics coming from the Chinese Communist Party said Gordon Chang, author of "The Coming Collapse of China."
The People’s Daily, a Chinese state-affiliated media organ, tweeted out new COVID-19 data from the Chinese mainland. The outlet reported 25 new cases and a total of 1,516 active cases.
Since the initial outbreak, China has reported a little more than 100,000 positive coronavirus cases and 4,820 overall deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I am sure that those numbers underreport the cases in China right now," Chang told Fox News.
"The Communist Party is using their treatment of coronavirus to extend their influence in the world," he warned, "and that means that infections and deaths are extremely political right now."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}What purpose does this underreporting serve?
According to Chang, "low numbers of infections and deaths support the Communist Party's narrative that their method of dealing with the coronavirus is superior to that of the U.S. and other countries," promoting the idea that "their form of governance is superior to democracy."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While no evidence disproving the reported numbers exists, Chang urged Americans to be more skeptical of information coming from the communist regime.
As U.S.-China relations are expected to improve under President Biden, Chang expressed concern over the new administration’s willingness to cooperate with China on COVID-19 policy.
"You can’t cooperate with a country that is responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Biden’s decision to remain in the World Health Organization also drew criticism from the China expert, who claimed the organization was "complicit with China" in helping spread a false narrative about the dangers of COVID-19 last spring.
In May, former President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would withdraw from the WHO, but the process wasn’t expected to be finalized until this July.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"China's lies have consequences," warned Chang. "They lead us to policy choices that are not advantageous for the international community and certainly not advantageous for the United States."