CLAIM
An article published in Express UK claims that Germany has sent a bill of £130 billion to China to pay for the damages caused by COVID-19. The article titled ‘Germany sends China £130 billion bill for ‘coronavirus damages’ – sparks fury in Beijing’ has been picked up by several media organisations including news agency IANS.
The Economic Times, along with Outlook published a syndicated article from IANS with a similar headline: “China gets 130-billion-pound bill from Germany for corona damages.”
Amar Ujala, too, published an article on Monday, 20 April, making the same claim.
Social media users also shared the Express UK’s article on Twitter and Facebook.
The Quint received a query on the claims being made in the article on its WhatsApp helpline.
WHAT’S THE TRUTH?
A German newspaper ‘Bild’ mocked up a bill and assessed the damage which the coronavirus pandemic has caused to the economy. However, the headline of Express UK is misleading to the effect that it insinuates that the German government has made the move.
Even the URL mentions ‘Angela Merkel’, giving an impression that the government is involved in this move.
However, if you read carefully, the first line of the Express article mentions that it is the German newspaper that has put together an invoice on coronavirus damages incurred by the country and not the government.
“Germany has sparked outrage in China after a major newspaper put together a £130bn invoice that Beijing “owes” Berlin following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” the first line reads.
Further, Germany-based media outlet DW News aired a bulletin on 18 April with the title: “German tabloid 'Bild' demands China pay coronavirus damages.” The bulletin showed images of the bill presented by the tabloid and mentioned that the invoice amounts to €149 billion. (£130 Bn)
Further, in a letter addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Editor-in-Chief of Bild wrote, “Your embassy in Berlin has addressed me in an open letter because we asked in our newspaper BILD whether China should pay for the massive economic damage the corona virus is inflicting worldwide.”
Though the content of the Express UK article does mention that it’s actually a Germany-based newspaper that had put together a bill, at first glance the headline is misleading and gives a wrong impression.
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