Incredibly, more than two years on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is still no explanation for the origins of the virus that is universally agreed to. Nobody is more pleased at this state of affairs than the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has mounted a massive propaganda operation to cover up its culpability for the global health crisis.
Fortunately, cover-ups are increasingly difficult to pull off in the age of the Internet. Paper files that would have previously found their way into the shredder or become “lost” down the back of a filing cabinet are now recorded for posterity in e-mail trails and open-source online data.
In the case of COVID-19, the evidence increasingly points toward not only an accidental lab leak from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, but also collusion between the CCP and a number of influential international scientists to cover up controversial “gain of function” research into coronaviruses.
The latest piece of the jigsaw to snap into place is a chance finding by a team of Hungarian scientists from the University of Veterinary Medicine and Lorand University, described in a paper published on Monday.
The bioinformatics specialists said they have discovered a previously unknown strain of SARS-CoV-2 after examining genetic data from soil samples collected from Antarctica, which became contaminated with the virus after the samples were sent to a laboratory in Shanghai for analysis in December, 2019. The laboratory, Sangon Biotech, is known to be used by the Wuhan institute for DNA sequencing.
The newly discovered early strain contains DNA from African green monkeys and Chinese hamsters, which are frequently used to study coronaviruses in a laboratory setting. This suggests that the virus might have been grown in a lab rather than having evolved naturally from a bat coronavirus — Beijing’s official and as-yet unsubstantiated explanation for the virus’ origin. The research adds further weight to the lab leak hypothesis, despite the best efforts of numerous high-profile scientists to stifle debate.
The Telegraph newspaper in September last year reported that all but one of 27 scientists who cosigned a letter published by the medical journal The Lancet on March 7, 2020, had connections to the Wuhan institute. The letter “strongly condemned conspiracy theories” surrounding the origin of COVID-19 and rubbished the notion that the virus could have originated in a laboratory. The letter’s publication during the crucial early stages of the pandemic shut down scientific debate over the origins of the virus.
An e-mail exchange released under UK freedom of information laws shows that the letter was coordinated by British zoologist Peter Daszak after he was asked by “our collaborators” in China for a “show of support.” Daszak is president of US-based EcoHealth Alliance, which has funded research at the Wuhan laboratory.
In earlier e-mail correspondence between the director of UK-based Wellcome Trust, Jeremy Farrar, and US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, the two said that it was likely the virus had leaked from a laboratory.
However, Farrar wrote: “Further debate would do unnecessary harm to science in general and science in China in particular.”
In language that could have come straight from the mouths of CCP propagandists, then-director of the US National Institutes of Health Francis Collins cautioned that further debate could damage “international harmony.”
A large number of leading scientists have shown spectacular naivety toward China, and some have acted in a downright mendacious manner to protect their own skins, as well as their pet projects.
China would scupper any international investigation, so instead, other nations, including Taiwan, must get their houses in order and stop any further funding of dodgy Chinese science.
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
A report by the US-based Jamestown Foundation on Tuesday last week warned that China is operating illegal oil drilling inside Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island (Dongsha, 東沙群島), marking a sharp escalation in Beijing’s “gray zone” tactics. The report said that, starting in July, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp installed 12 permanent or semi-permanent oil rig structures and dozens of associated ships deep inside Taiwan’s EEZ about 48km from the restricted waters of Pratas Island in the northeast of the South China Sea, islands that are home to a Taiwanese garrison. The rigs not only typify
RSS