An EU report about Chinese and Russian disinformation on coronavirus was watered down after pressure from Beijing
Friday about the Chinese pressure, citing an EU diplomat who wrote to colleagues that "the Chinese [were] threatening with reactions if the report comes out."
The NYT article also quoted an email from a senior adviser to the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, who ordered the report be held back and "asked analysts to differentiate between pushing disinformation and aggressively pushing a narrative." An EU official who disagreed with the changes was quoted saying that the bloc's diplomats were “self-censoring to appease the Chinese Communist Party.
He said the New York Times article makes "ungrounded, inaccurate allegations and contains factually incorrect conclusions about the EEAS’ report," adding that "disinformation and harmful narratives can bear severe potential risks to our citizens, including to their health."
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