Taiwan: mainland Chinese behind attacks on Tedros

Taiwan: mainland Chinese behind attacks on Tedros

Taiwan authorities said alleged online racist comments against the World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus were actually collectively generated by netizens from mainland China.



In a press conference on Friday, the island's Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said its probe found no articles attacking Tedros three months ago, which he alleged.



Instead, officials found a series of articles apologising to the doctor. They said this was an apparent attempt to create the false impression that the Taiwanese people had attacked Tedros in the first place.



Taiwan's Central News Agency quoted the bureau as saying that one of the social media accounts, named "publishing apologetic comments on behalf of the people in Taiwan", popped up on Thursday.



It said after investigating the matter, officials believe the account user is from mainland China.



The bureau called on people to be careful about actual and fake information online, saying they should not easily forward false contents.



The news comes after the agency quoted the bureau as saying that a large amount of mainland internet accounts have been pretending to be Taiwanese netizens and attacked Tedros.