Europe Does Not Want To Confront China Over 'Bogus Coronavirus Death Numbers'

BBC: Coronvirus: Europe 'wary of confronting China over deaths'

China is continuing to under-report the true levels of deaths from Covid-19, national security officials in London and Washington believe.

But European officials are wary about directly challenging China over the figures, sources told the BBC. That concern also extends to confronting Beijing over an information campaign to improve its standing and distract from blame in the crisis.

China has denied allegations of a cover up, saying it has been transparent about its efforts to battle the virus.

On 17 April, officials in Wuhan, the city where the outbreak is believed to have begun, raised the death toll from Covid-19 by 50 per cent overnight. They said the sharp increase reflected updated reporting and deaths outside hospitals, insisting there had been no cover-up.

But several officials in London and Washington say they still believe the picture is not an accurate reflection of the death toll, and that the central government in Beijing knows this. They do not however believe China knows the real figure for certain and is hiding it.

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WNU Editor: European governments are wary that if they anger China they may end-up getting little if any medical supplies from them. Everyone knows the Chinese numbers are bogus, but no one wants to talk about the 800lb gorilla in the living room. Ditto on how China behaved when this virus first broke out. First denying that it was serious, condemning moves to close borders, closing its own borders when the rest of the world became infected, and then followed by its refusal to permit international inspectors to come in and inspect the facilities in Wuhan that are suspected to have started this pandemic. In any other situation these European governments will be screaming bloody murder over the death of 100,000+ Europeans (and counting). But aside a few remarks from the French, U.K., and German leaders, their silence has been (and still is) deafening.But while European governments are silent, their citizens are not. There is a great deal of anger in Europe, and there will be a reckoning over what China did.