China criticises foreign media's use of Chinese nationals as 'pawns' in Covid-19 coverage

BEIJING - China blasted foreign media organisations' use of Chinese staff to report on issues such as Covid-19 and Xinjiang, in an apparent escalation of Beijing's efforts to restrict critical coverage of the world's second-largest economy.

"Manipulating these journalists to misrepresent China and stir up ideological bias against the country has once again revealed that so-called 'press freedom' touted by the Western media is just a handy tool to advance a narrow political agenda," the commentary said. There were some 127 journalists known to be jailed in China as of December, and at least 10 citizen journalists were arrested in 2020 for publishing details about the Covid-19 crisis in Wuhan, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The Xinhua allegations of a"smear campaign" involving Chinese media staffers is consistent with longstanding party practice of blaming"hostile foreign forces" or"black hands" for domestic problems. China has expressed support for Russia's"legitimate security concerns" in Eastern Europe and the country's diplomats and state media have promoted conspiracy theories about US-backed biological laboratories in Ukraine.

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