BERLIN—The German government recently said the Chinese Communist Party tried to make German officials publicly applaud its effort in containing the CCP virus.
Prompted by a media report, a member of Parliament wrote to the German Interior Ministry to find out.
“The German government is aware of individual contacts made by Chinese diplomats with the aim of effecting positive public statements on the coronavirus management by the People’s Republic of China. The federal government has not complied with these requests,” from a letter the ministry sent to Margarete Baus, a member of the Green Party. The letter was shown to NTD.
Germany has not formally protested the influence campaign. So far, it has also shied away from directly criticizing the CCP. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that transparency from China, including into the origin of the virus, is crucial for combating the pandemic.
The Chinese Embassy in Germany denied that this influence campaign ever happened. It called the media reports untrue and irresponsible and did not acknowledge the letter from the German interior ministry confirming the campaign.
More and more governments are criticizing the CCP’s handling of the outbreak. They point to how the CCP’s coverup, intimidation of whistleblowers, and destruction of virus samples allowed the virus to spread around the world.
Recently, European Union officials softened their criticism of the Chinese regime in a report on virus disinformation after receiving pressure from the CCP.
Some countries, like the United States and Australia, want to initiate an independent investigation into the virus and its origin. At least one German opposition party, the Green Party, is now joining this call.
