Germany Didn¡¯t Send A $161 Billion Bill To China Over COVID-19 Damages: Here's What Happened
Recently, news agencies in Europe ran with strange piece of news. The headline stated that Germany has sent a bill for 149 billion Euros to China for damages caused by the coronavirus. This surely is astonishing, however, not entirely true.
COVID-19 has caused immense damage to our world, affecting people's lives, as well as several economies around the world.
Recently, news agencies in Europe ran a rather strange bit of news. The headline stated that Germany has sent a bill for 149 billion Euros to China for damages caused by the coronavirus.
Reuters
This surely is astonishing, however, not entirely true.
According to FullFact.Org, the bill was essentially a mock-up sent by Germany¡¯s renowned news publishing outlet Bild, where they assessed the ¡°damages¡± to its economy from the virus to total €149 billion or $161 billion.
Germany has had over 1,40,000 confirmed cases while claiming the lives of over 4000 people. While not as severe as the situation in the US, Italy, the novel coronavirus has done irreparable damage to the nation¡¯s people and the economy.
Chinese authorities, when they came across the report, they weren¡¯t happy. The Chinese embassy spokeswoman in Germany, Tao Lil issued a statement to the news publication, stating, ¡°I followed your reporting on the corona pandemic in general and China's alleged guilt in particular today. Apart from the fact that we consider it a pretty bad style to blame a country for a pandemic that is affecting the whole world and then to present an explicit account of alleged Chinese debts to Germany, the article ignores some essential facts.¡± She further stated that such articles stir xenophobia and nationalism.
Bild
Bild Editor In Chief went on a video to respond to this letter, questioning Chinese authorities¡¯ efforts while research stating, ¡°your laboratories in Wuhan have been researching coronaviruses in bats, but without maintaining the highest safety standards. Why are your toxic laboratories not as secure as your prisons for political prisoners? Would you like to explain this to the grieving widows, daughters, sons, husbands, parents of corona victims all over the world?¡±
He concluded stating, ¡°In your country, your people are whispering about you. Your power is crumbling. You have created an inscrutable, non-transparent China. Before Corona, China was known as a surveillance state. Now, China is known as a surveillance state that infected the world with a deadly disease.That is your political legacy.¡±
