Chinese delegation vilified by CNN's false report

The Chinese delegation to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 in Davos has refuted a CNN report on Monday that quoted a US politician as saying they walked out of the room without applauding after a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The allegation is "totally untrue", according to the Chinese delegation. When Zelensky made the virtual speech on Monday, the delegation was not at the site but in talks with Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, it said.

CNN interviewed United States congressman Michael McCaul, who was attending the forum. McCaul claimed that he took a photograph showing the Chinese delegation seated while other people were giving a standing ovation, and that the members then left the room.

The photo McCaul showed in the program features four men with Asian faces. "They were sitting right behind me," McCaul told CNN. "That picture that was taken by me actually sending a clear message: They do not support Ukraine. They do not support Zelensky."

However, the Chinese delegation said the four in the photo were Vietnamese.

According to Vietnamese media reports, Le Minh Khai, deputy prime minister of Vietnam, led a delegation to the WEF meeting on Monday.

Birol, the IEA's executive director, said on Twitter on Monday that he had "excellent discussions at Davos with my old Friend Xie Zhenhua, China's special climate envoy on climate change".

He said the duo had talked about the situation in global energy markets and how to ensure that measures to tackle climate change are at the heart of policymaking.

The irresponsible allegation of the US politician and CNN has triggered anger among many Chinese netizens, who condemned the claims.

"CNN is really fake news," a netizen from Shanghai said. "Aside from defaming China, does CNN have anything else to do?" commented a netizen from Sichuan province.