BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Facts have proven time and again that the United States is an "empire of lies" through and through, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Saturday.

The spokesperson made the remarks in response to a recent U.S. State Department report that claimed China has invested billions of dollars to spread disinformation globally.

The spokesperson said the U.S. Department of State report is in itself disinformation as it misrepresents facts and truth.

"In fact, it is the U.S. that invented the weaponizing of the global information space," the spokesperson said, adding that the relevant center of the U.S. State Department which concocted the report is engaged in propaganda and infiltration in the name of "global engagement." It is a source of disinformation and the command center of "perception warfare."

The spokesperson said from Operation Mockingbird which bribed and manipulated news media for propaganda purposes in the Cold War era, to a vial of white powder and a staged video of the "White Helmets" cited as evidence to wage wars of aggression in Iraq and Syria earlier this century, and then to the enormous lie made up to smear China's Xinjiang policy, facts have proven time and again that the U.S. is an "empire of lies" through and through. Even some in the U.S., such as Senator Rand Paul, acknowledged that the U.S. government is the greatest propagator of disinformation in the history of the world.

"Some in the U.S. may think that they can prevail in the information war as long as they produce enough lies. But the people of the world are not blind, " said the spokesperson.

No matter how the U.S. tries to pin the label of "disinformation" on other countries, more and more people in the world have already seen through the U.S. 's ugly attempt to perpetuate its supremacy by weaving lies into "emperor's new clothes" and smearing others, the spokesperson stressed.

外交部：事实一再证明 美国是名副其实的“谎言帝国”

新华社北京9月30日电 外交部发言人30日就美国国务院发表涉华报告答记者问。

有记者问：美国国务院28日发布报告称，中国正斥资数十亿美元在全球散布虚假信息。中国“操弄全球信息”不仅仅是一个公共外交问题，而是对全球信息空间完整性的挑战。如不加管束，未来恐将导致全球言论自由的急剧缩减。中方对此有何回应？

发言人说，美国国务院发布的有关报告罔顾事实、颠倒黑白，本身就是虚假信息。事实上，将舆论场武器化正是美国的“首创”。炮制上述报告的美国国务院有关机构以“全球接触”为名，行“宣传渗透”之实，是虚假信息的策源地和“认知作战”的指挥所。

发言人表示，从冷战时期发起“知更鸟计划”收买媒体操纵舆论，到新世纪借“洗衣粉”“白头盔”对伊拉克、叙利亚发动侵略战争，再到编造“世纪谎言”污蔑中国治疆政策，事实一再证明，美国是名副其实的“谎言帝国”，就连美国联邦参议员兰德·保罗等也承认美国政府是世界历史上最大的虚假信息散布者。

“也许美方一些人认为，只要制造足够多的谣言，就可以赢得信息战。然而，世界人民的眼睛是雪亮的。”发言人说，无论美国如何竭力将“散布假消息”的帽子扣到他国头上，也无法改变世界上越来越多的人们正在识破美国依靠谎言来编织“皇帝新装”、通过抹黑别人来维系霸权的丑陋行径。

图 | 范英兰