In an event of an international incident or crisis, the Chinese Communist Party will try to cover up and downplay the severity of it. The Epoch Times obtained a leaked document that shows this.
The document, dated 2018, is from a foreign affairs office in China’s Hubei province. Within it are instructions on how to handle a tragic bus accident that happened between North Korea and China, including how to keep it suppressed.
In April 2018, 4 Koreans and 32 Chinese nationals died when a tourist bus crashed off a bridge in North Korea.
An instruction on the document tells how to keep the incident low-key. It said to “limit the public’s chatter, tell affected families to not accept foreign media’s interviews to avoid hyping up the situation.”
Family members who wanted a proper burial service for their relatives were “persuaded” against it. This was supposedly done to reduce exposure of the incident.
This downplaying attitude depicted in the document has parallels to the regime’s actions during the pandemic.
In the early stages of the pandemic, a Chinese doctor, Li Wenliang tried to raise public concern on the virus in China. He shared a report on China’s lab sequencing of the virus. Authorities soon warned him not to spread information about the virus or face penalties. This happened to 7 other Chinese doctors who also tried to raise public concern.
In June this year, Beijing tested all 10 million Wuhan residents and reported zero positive virus cases.
