Chinese State-Run Media Uses Times Square Video to Claim China Leading the Fight Against COVID-19

A screen advertising Xinhua News Agency is seen in Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, on March 2, 2020. Reuters/Andrew Kelly

The Chinese communist regime put up ads on a video screen in Times Square in New York City, claiming to be leading the world’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, right after it refused to share raw patient data with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Wuhan during its investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

The Chinese state-owned media Xinhua News is the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mouthpiece. It has leased a large video screen in Times Square to run propaganda for the communist regime since 2011.

In its most recent ads, it claims “China has helped more than 80 countries and territories” and “will continue to fight the virus hand in hand with the international community” while showing pictures of other countries including Italy, Korea, and Japan.

According to various media reports, WHO officials and experts on its investigation team complained that Beijing continued to resist cooperating with the probe into the origin of the virus.

The Biden administration’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in statement after the WHO’s investigation in Wuhan, “We have deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them.” “To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, China must make available its data from the earliest days of the outbreak.”

He said in an interview with CBS, “We do not believe that China has made available sufficient original data into how this pandemic began to spread, both in China and then eventually around the world. And we believe that both the WHO and China should step up on this matter.”

In December 2019 or earlier, the CCP virus broke out in Wuhan, China. As of Feb. 25, 2021, there were 112.98 million infections and 2.5 million deaths worldwide; 28.4 million infections and 508,000 deaths in the United States, according to John Hopkins University. The numbers pertaining to China are suspected to be manipulated, due to the regime’s lack of transparency.

According to an overseas Chinese language media report, some netizens commented on Xinhua’s messages in Times Square. One netizen wrote, “It is impossible for people in the United States and Europe to put up ads of democracy in China, while China can spread lies in the West, and even humiliate the country where the ads are put up. The West has not done anything to patch up the loopholes. If they just pay attention to getting money [from the CCP], the final outcome will be miserable.”

Regarding Xinhua’s ads in Times Square, Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote on Twitter, “Who thought allowing Communist China to display their lies and propaganda was a good idea? It’s time for Times Square to cancel the so-called China Screen.”

According to a report by Fox News, the “China Screen” in Times Square is owned by Sherwood Outdoor, a subsidiary of Sherwood Equities Inc., and leased to China’s Xinhua News Agency. The term of the lease and if it will be renewed is unknown.