The ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been amplifying Russian government propaganda claiming that the U.S. is financing biological weapons labs in Ukraine, as the two countries embark on a "no limits" alliance that appears to include a global disinformation war.
Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian referred to the claim as if it were factual when speaking to reporters in Beijing on Thursday.
“This Russian military operation has uncovered the secret of the U.S. labs in Ukraine, and this is not something that can be dealt with in a perfunctory manner,” Zhao told a regular news briefing. "It is not something they can muddle through by saying that China's statement and Russia's finding are disinformation, and are absurd and ridiculous."
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby has dismissed the claim as "Russian malarkey."
But CIA Director William Burns said there is grave concern that Russia might be laying the groundwork for a chemical or biological attack of its own, which it would then blame on the fabricated lab operation.
“This is something, as all of you know very well, is very much a part of Russia's playbook,” Burns told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. “They've used these weapons against their own citizens, they've at least encouraged the use in Syria and elsewhere, so it's something we take very seriously.”
Moscow has also claimed that its invading forces had found evidence of hasty attempts to conceal biological weapons research in Ukraine.
Russian military figures and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov have repeated the claims, saying they are "ethnically targeted."
The story has been picked up in Chinese state media, which has been ordered to publish only pro-Russian material since the start of the war, while video footage of Russian defense officials repeating the claims had garnered more than 10 million views on the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo.
Changchun lockdown
The story was amplified in China as authorities placed the northeastern city of Changchun -- home to some nine million people -- under lockdown, amid a wave of new COVID-19 infections.
Residents must stay home, with one person allowed out every two days to buy essential supplies only, and public transportation, schools and businesses shut down.
China reported 1,396 new cases of COVID-19 during the past 24 hours, compared with less than 100 just three weeks ago.
Meanwhile, authorities in Shanghai have shut down schools, and are requisitioning properties in one residential district, possibly to use as enforced quarantine facilities.
The Xuhui district government issued an emergency notice on Thursday, requisitioning a long-term apartment-style hotel, making the current residents homeless overnight, they told RFA.
Tenants who used the hotel were typically highly-salaried professionals who wanted a place close to the office, and were ordered to leave with no compensation or alternative arrangements, staff said.
"Xuhui district government imposed a requisition order," a member of staff who answered the phone on Friday told RFA. "If they are paying monthly to stay, that costs around 10,000 yuan a month."
"I don't know anything else about it."
A Shanghai resident surnamed Wang said local officials had reported 11 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 64 asymptomatic infections.
Reporters pressed to spread conspiracies
Repeated calls to the Shanghai municipal health commission rang unanswered during office hours on Friday, while an official at the Xuhui district health bureau referred inquiries to the district-level center for disease control and prevention (CDC).
Calls to the Xuhui CDC also rang unanswered on Friday.
One journalist told RFA they had been ordered not to carry out their own reporting into the COVID-19 wave, but instead to repost claims that the U.S. funded a biolab in Ukraine specializing in the study of pathogens that can be transmitted from bats to humans.
Media worker Liu Xiao said China's zero-COVID strategy is looking less and less realistic in the face of the new wave of omicron variant infections, which is better able to escape China's homegrown vaccines than imported vaccines.
"You can't get the Pfizer jab; they're not approving it," Liu told RFA. "Everyone I know, including the director of a hospital, have all been given the Chinese-made jabs."
"My son is still pretty sick, and he's saying that the Chinese-made vaccines aren't effective ... Also, a lot of people are getting their immunity levels tested, but nobody is managing to get a Pfizer jab," he said.
"Not even people in Beijing, who are very well-connected."
Liu said nobody knows why it's impossible to get imported jabs.
"We daren't talk about it too much," he said.
Political, not scientific policies
Cases continued to surge in Laixi city near the eastern port city of Qingdao, with a number of local officials punished for "allowing" the disease to spread at the No. 7 High School.
Shandong province had 121 newly confirmed cases on Friday, including 103 in Qingdao.
A Qingdao resident who gave only the nickname John said it made no sense to blame officials when the omicron variant is so highly transmissible.
"I don't think it makes any sense, because ... the virus will always spread faster than the speed of human prevention and control," he said. "But after they did that, local officials were walking through the streets every day to oversee prevention and control efforts."
Most flights have been canceled at Qingdao International Airport, with online video showing rows of empty check-in desks.
Current affairs commentator Zhang Jianping said the zero-COVID policy is political rather than scientific.
"This virus will keep coming back, and they always use political means to deal with what should be a matter for science," Zhang said.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.