The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Saturday that the United States is the "true Empire of Lies," in response to a report from the U.S. State Department accusing Beijing of investing billions of dollars annually in information manipulation efforts. The ministry's statement said, "The report ignored facts, and it is itself false information." It continued: "The U.S. State Department bodies that worked on the report are sources of false information and a command center for ‘cognitive warfare,’ and facts have repeatedly proven that the United States is the 'true Empire of Lies.'"
The U.S. State Department's report, released on Thursday, claimed that China manipulates global media through censorship, data harvesting, and covertly buying foreign media outlets. The report stated that "despite dedicating unprecedented resources to the campaign, Beijing has suffered 'major setbacks' in targeting democratic countries due to local media and civil society resistance." The report was issued at the request of Congress to detail issues related to information manipulation.
