FM calls reports of China’s "secret plan" to bolster DPRK "FAKE NEWS"

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Recently, The Washington Free Beacon reported that China adopted "a secret plan" to bolster the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) "with increased aid and military support, including new missiles." But the report has been dismissed as fake news and is based on a fake document.

At a regular press conference on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a very simple response to the report: "fake news."

According to The Washington Free Beacon, the "secret document" was allegedly from the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and was obtained from a person "who once had ties to the Chinese intelligence and security communities."

"In a word, fake document. Any person with even a modicum of common sense can tell that is a fabrication," spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

Furthermore, the report linked the fake document to hyped-up media reports that Chinese ships are illegally selling oil to DPRK vessels in violation of the UN Security Council sanctions. Those reports were also rejected as fake news.

"About a Chinese ship’s alleged involvement in transferring oil to a DPRK ship in international waters on October 19, the Chinese side carried out investigations immediately," spokesperson Hua Chunying said on December 29, adding that since August, the ship in question has never docked at a Chinese port and there is no record of it entering or leaving a Chinese port. "Whether this ship has ever called at other countries’ ports is not ours to tell. Therefore, what these reports claimed is not true."

"The hyped-up media reports are not conducive to building mutual trust and conducting cooperation between all parties on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue," Hua added.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called some of his nation’s media outlets "fake news" and "the enemy of the people." The Washington Free Beacon report only adds further weight to the concern that some foreign media are imbued with bias against China.