China slams U.S.' Blinken for accusing it of 'distorting information'

China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday slammed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken over his comments that China has been twisting the environment of global information.

Blinken made the remarks at the third "Summit for Democracy," hosted virtually by South Korea on March 18-20.

The so-called Summit for Democracy promoting "democracy against authoritarianism" is itself a false narrative, and the accusation that China is spreading false information is false information in itself, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference.

It is widely regarded that the U.S. is the greatest disseminator of misinformation in the world, Lin said.

He said while the Chinese economy is stabilizing and improving, the U.S. is hyping up the "collapse theory" and the "peak theory" and that while the Belt and Road Initiative has benefited people across the world, the U.S. is concocting the so-called debt trap.

When foreign citizens spontaneously speak about the real China, the U.S. claims it is the result of "China manipulating public opinion," and policies and measures to promote stability and development in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region are labeled by the U.S. as "forced labor" and "genocide," Lin added.

U.S. officials have more than once admitted that the U.S. promotes narratives discrediting China through various covert operations, which is proof that Washington has been systematically and strategically spreading false information about China for years, making it an important tool in the U.S.'s cognitive warfare against China, Lin said.

"Ultimately, lies and conspiracies will only backfire," Lin said, adding that the more the U.S. resorts to fabricating rumors, slandering and confusing the public, the clearer the massive deficit in its credibility becomes to the international community.