As we’re neck-deep in pandemic fallout thanks to the Wuhan Coronavirus, China has been trying to make itself appear to be a global leader in handling the situation by posing as benefactors and realists.

In truth, they’ve been disgusting and disgraceful in everything they’ve done and continue to do. Here are some of the things China has done just lately that put just how bad they are into perspective.

Punishing Whistleblowers:

When it started, a Chinese doctor named Li Wenliang sent out a public warning about the Coronavirus and was quickly paid a visit by Chinese police and arrested. He later died of the virus prompting China to “honor him” in an attempt to make people forget that they arrested him and made him admit to a misdemeanor and promise to never do it again. Seven others were arrested by the Chinese government for doing the exact same thing.

Despite China’s efforts, the Chinese people weren’t buying it as they demanded an apology from the Chinese government as well as freedom of speech. The Chines government responded by censoring these posts as well. Regardless, the damage was done.

The two trending topics censored by Weibo tonight:

# Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology #

# We want freedom of speech #

Both had tens of thousands of views before disappearing into this dark night. pic.twitter.com/LHEMsbn02I

— Nectar Gan (@Nectar_Gan) February 6, 2020

It was clear China wanted to be seen as being in control from the very beginning but it’s hard to seem in control when a virus is spreading uncontrollably throughout your population.

Fudging the Facts and Hiding the Truth:

As the virus spread, China lied about its contagious nature to its own people and the international scientific community. As reported by Jim Gaherty of National Review, it took Chinese scientists to notify the U.S. a month after the outbreak began while the Chinese government still attempted to downplay it:

 The Chinese government continued efforts to suppress all information about the virus: “China’s National Health Commission, the nation’s top health authority, ordered institutions not to publish any information related to the unknown disease, and ordered labs to transfer any samples they had to designated testing institutions, or to destroy them.”

Roughly one month after the first cases in Wuhan, the United States government is notified. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gets initial reports about a new coronavirus from Chinese colleagues, according to Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar. Azar, who helped manage the response at HHS to earlier SARS and anthrax outbreaks, told his chief of staff to make sure the National Security Council was informed.

Also on this day, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission released another statement, repeating, “As of now, preliminary investigations have shown no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission and no medical staff infections.”

The World Health Organization jumped on board with the Chinese government’s narrative, echoing the idea that there is no human-to-human transmission of the virus despite it being five to six weeks after evidence of human-to-human transmission being available.

Summed up, China destroyed virus samples and had its scientific community hide its findings in order to generate a narrative.

Adopting the American Left’s Methods of Narrative Control:

After it was clear that China had no control over the outbreak it began taking steps to shift the narrative. One thing it definitely wanted was for the United States media to begin looking kindly on it and what better way to do that then utilize the left’s obedience to identity politics and their hatred of President Donald Trump.

Thus despite the fact that everyone from the American mainstream media to China itself had been referring to the virus as the “Wuhan virus,” it suddenly became racist to say after the phrase was uttered by Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The accusations came suddenly and without warning with China jumping onboard immediately, even sending out a tweet from their state-run news agency slamming Trump for using a term they had just used recently.

It's a distraction tactic. It's racist… pic.twitter.com/2R1nBMbfps

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 20, 2020

With China now playing the racism card, the media went into full defense mode in order to defend China anytime China was implicated in the virus’s spread or their mishandling of the situation was brought up. CNN, in particular, went far enough to make a report describing China exactly as they wished to be described, making them look like wise benefactors who are leading the global effort to stop the pandemic while also bashing Trump and making him look incompetent and uncaring.

Tucker Carlson covered this CNN report in a segment of his own.

Faking Hope

In its efforts to make it seem like China is in control of the situation, the government began reporting that no new cases of the virus have been seen. This claim was parroted by the mainstream media but various whistleblowers made it clear that the epidemic is still in full swing.

According to The Week, Chinese citizens came forth with the real story, telling news organization Caixin that China ordered its businesses to fake productivity in order to make it seem like they’re back on track:

Beijing has spent much of the outbreak pushing districts to carry on business as usual, with some local governments subsidizing electricity costs and even installing mandatory productivity quotas. Zhejiang, a province east of the epicenter city of Wuhan, claimed as of Feb. 24 it had restored 98.6 percent of its pre-coronavirus work capacity.

But civil servants tell Caixin that businesses are actually faking these numbers. Beijing had started checking Zhejiang businesses’ electricity consumption levels, so district officials ordered the companies to start leaving their lights and machinery on all day to drive the numbers up, one civil servant said. Businesses have reportedly falsified staff attendance logs as well — they “would rather waste a small amount of money on power than irritate local officials,” Caixin writes.

In Wuhan, officials have tried to make it appear that recovery efforts are going smoothly. But when “central leaders” personally survey disinfecting regimens and food delivery, local officials “make a special effort” for them and them alone, one resident told Caixin. And in a video circulating on social media, residents can be seen shouting at visiting leaders from the apartments where they’re being quarantined — “Fake, it’s all fake.”