European Commission President calls out China for cyberattacks against EU hospitals and health care institutions in order to distort the narrative around Corona virus pandemic

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on Monday called out China for targeting EU hospitals and health care institutions with cyberattacks during the Corona virus crisis in order to control and distort the narrative around the Corona virus pandemic. The Corona virus which originated in Wuhan in China has made countries all over the world see the truth about China, its mismanagement of the pandemic, its dubious role in spreading the virus and its nefarious designs to arm-twist countries to control the narrative in its favor.

In a video conference with China’s President Xi Jinping, Ursula von der Leyen said “We’ve seen attacks … on computer systems, on hospitals, and we know the origin of the cyberattacks…We put together the facts and the figures necessary to know”, she said. The European Commission and European Leaders were in a video conference with Chinese leadership discussing trade, human rights and other issues apart from handling of Corona virus pandemic.

Pointing to China’s use of disinformation to distort the public debate around the Corona virus pandemic, she said “We pointed out clearly that this cannot be tolerated”.

The remarks from European Commission President comes after EU published a report earlier this month on disinformation campaign by China which targeted Europe with false and distorting narratives using all forms of media. In April, the EU had reported about cyberattacks on hospitals and Corona virus research institutes which had criticised the way the spread of Virus was handled by China.

The criticism from EU comes close on the report by US Department of Justice which revealed that prominent Chinese propaganda media outlet, the China Daily, paid American newspapers nearly $19 million for paid articles, advertising and printing expenses over the past four years. Records showed that China Daily paid more than $4.6 million to The Washington Post and nearly $6 million to The Wall Street Journal since November 2016.

In India too, many so-called experts are suspected to have been paid by China to peddle its narrative.