The US long ago became an “empire of lies” as it continues to push false narratives about China and other countries to secure its position globally, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Defense Ministry in Beijing, has said.
Last month, the US Marine Corps released an unclassified version of an official doctrine titled Deception, which provides insight into the tactics it employs to gain an advantage over a perceived adversary and mitigate risks by relying on “deliberate distortion of reality.”
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Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Zhang remarked that Washington’s “deceptive behavior” has gone far beyond the confines of military affairs and “has actually penetrated deeply into its bones.” The US “dares to invent falsehoods for its own selfish interests and has long become a veritable ‘empire of lies,’” he added.
The spokesman recalled that the US attempted to actively manipulate public opinion during the Cold War and then engaged in ploys with “washing powder” and relied on the White Helmets to “launch aggressive wars” against Iraq and Syria, respectively. Regarding the former, Zhang was referring to the now-infamous moment in 2003 when US Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the UN Security Council with alleged evidence of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction – a claim that later turned out to be false.
The White Helmets is a Syrian-based organization operating in opposition-controlled parts of the country. While claiming to be engaged solely in humanitarian activities, the group has vocally accused the government in Damascus of war crimes. The White Helmets, however, have been accused of having ties to terrorist groups, which it denies.
Zhang also accused the US of launching false information campaigns to discredit Chinese vaccines in the Philippines and other countries. He was referring to a Reuters report earlier this month claiming that the Pentagon had run an undercover social media campaign to discredit the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine.
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Zhang went on to stress that “you can deceive for a while, but you can’t deceive forever” while urging the US to “immediately correct its wrong practices, stop spreading false information, stop misleading the world with lies, and stop slandering other countries, and give a clear explanation to the international community for its deceptive behavior as soon as possible.”