A Foreign Ministry spokesman on Friday slammed US efforts to discredit Chinese investments, saying that the United States has been resorting to extreme measures including paying for lies to smear China and undermine Sino-African relations.

According to an article recently published in Zimbabwe's largest daily newspaper The Herald, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US State Department is implementing "an intricate plan" to smear Chinese businesses in Zimbabwe "through disinformation, lies and sensationalism in the independent media and social platforms".

The article said that the US is funding and training local reporters to write anti-China stories and discredit Chinese investments with journalists receiving payments of $1,000 per story from the US embassy in Zimbabwe.

"We have noticed relevant reports. In Zimbabwe, $1,000 can help ease financial difficulties of a student in Zimbabwe or help Zimbabwe to purchase 100 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. However, if the US government chose to spend the money on paid posters to fabricate rumors as the media exposed, it would be despicable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Zhao said that the Zimbabwean media reports fully showed that African countries and the world at large clearly know about how the US has been spreading disinformation.

Noting that China and Zimbabwe have a long-standing friendship, the spokesman said that investment by Chinese companies has helped promote the African country's economic recovery and improve people's livelihoods. Practical cooperation between the two countries has brought tangible benefits to the two peoples, he said.

"But if we look at the US, it not only imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, but also paid the media to fabricate disinformation in order to smear China," Zhao said, urging the US to do more to benefit Zimbabwe and other African countries and stop manufacturing lies.

In an opinion piece published on Sept 24 titled "Never Be Used against China by the United States", The Herald called on "all right-thinking citizens" to condemn attempts to "smear the image of China and its investors in Zimbabwe", pointing out that such schemes fully reflect the plotters' "jealousy and chicanery".

"It is unfortunate that some sections of the media have accepted dirty money to go on this crusade to demonize Chinese companies who are providing employment, livelihoods and paying taxes for the benefit of the nation," it said.

Zimbabwean Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga has also urged citizens not to be hoodwinked and misled by anti-China reports funded by US money.

"We get so many uninvited voices talking about the friendship between Zimbabwe and China, trying to destroy what has been achieved through the help from the People's Republic of China," Chiwenga said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.