Joshua Wong 黃之鋒  😷Verified account

1.1/ China's empathy with #Italy is political hypocrisy since the face mask diplomacy is just part of China's Overseas Propaganda campaign, which includes rewriting history, obscuring the source of the virus, painting China as a global hero by delivering medical aids abroad.

1.2/ More importantly, praising the superiority of China over the western liberal democracies. This narrative is tightly connected to President Xi Jinping's personality cult, as his authority has been deeply challenged since the outbreak.

1.3/ To retain his reputation and erase China's bad image, state-run media in China have been projecting China as the global hero with extreme nationalist colour in the past few weeks. Therefore, helping Italy is just part of a bigger plan.

2.1/ As mask manufacturers described to reporters, the mask machine is now a real cash printer. In the first months, nearly 9000 new manufacturers set foot in mask production. Some are garment factory owners.

2.2/ It proves that sending masks is not an act of generosity, but a way to ease its economic pressure, since China's export-oriented manufacturing industry is still heavily hit by the economy. Chinese factory owners rely on mask exports to survive.

2.3/ However, masks or healthcare production is not an ordinary industry. It is a matter of life and death. Most of the Chinese masks or other medical kits are gradually found substandard or counterfeited.

2.4/ Czech, Dutch, Spanish and Turkish governments have found the China-made masks and test kits fail to meet safety standards. In other words, those Chinese mask manufacturers are now earning money at the expense of others' safety.

3.1/ The number of confirmed cases should be higher than Italy since Beijing have tried every means to keep the number of confirmed cases low. Chinese hospitals now deny new admission of new patients and refuse to give virus test in order to achieve a zero case day.