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Chinese diplomat’s Covid-19 PR exercise backfires

As countries around the world try to work out a way to live with coronavirus, there’s a growing hostility towards China. In order to remedy any such thoughts, this week Beijing sent the Chinese embassy’s second in command to face something unheard of in her homeland – public scrutiny. Chen Wen, a London-based diplomat for the totalitarian state, took the BBC’s World at One programme on Friday to defend the Chinese Communist record on Covid-19. During the extensive interview, she declared that when it come to the global pandemic, which originated from China, the world should ‘appreciate’ the efforts of the Chinese state rather than criticising its failings.

However, some gentle probing from the BBC’s Chris Mason meant the interview didn’t exactly go to plan. He played a clip of Tory MP Tom Tugendhat criticising the ‘tyrannical’ Communist Party and accusing it of falsifying Covid data. Chen replied: ‘It seems to be so easy to blame China for everything, you have to look behind the thinking of these kinds of unwarranted accusations.’

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