The extensive anti-American coronavirus disinformation campaign orchestrated by Beijing and Moscow is likely to backfire. The crude attempts to sow havoc in Western societies cannot be sustained if the source of the disinformation is widely publicized and the facts about China and Russia are revealed. It was China’s initial cover-up that lulled the world into a false sense of security from the escalating pandemic. And Russia’s duplicity about its own COVID-19 infestation will highlight Moscow’s lack of credibility and trustworthiness.

Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Chinese government disinformation has spread like a virus. To deflect attention from Beijing’s incompetence and global irresponsibility, China’s Foreign Ministry has claimed that the U.S. Army deliberately infected Wuhan with the epidemic. The subsequent claims by the Communist government in Beijing that it has controlled the virus and will save the world from another pandemic simply cannot be believed. Assertions about controlling the virus are a form of positive disinformation but unlikely to convince Western audiences that the ruling Communist Party can be trusted. In an authoritarian state, information is tightly controlled and twisted to serve the interests of the rulers.