China's disinformation campaign
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House Report Names ‘Public Face’ of China’s ‘Disinformation Campaign’ on COVID Origin
A new congressional report will tie Peter Daszak, the controversial director of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance nonprofit, to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda campaign about COVID-19’s origins.
“We have uncovered strong evidence that suggests Peter Daszak is the public face of a CCP disinformation campaign designed to suppress public discussion about a potential lab leak,” states a new report, a copy of which National Review obtained before its planned publication later today, by Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The committee’s Republicans are releasing the document as an addendum to the COVID-origins report they issued last year. Among other things, this version highlights research from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) that viruses can be genetically modified without leaving a trace and that the WIV made unusual security-related procurements the same day that a mysterious virus database was taken off-line. “The preponderance of evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally released from a Wuhan Institute of Virology laboratory sometime prior to September 12, 2019,” the report concludes.
One of the most noteworthy revelations, however, might be indications that the WIV — a CCP-controlled facility — appears to have played a role in Daszak’s efforts to shape public opinion surrounding the virus’s origins.
“It’s incredibly concerning that Peter Daszak, an American scientist who has taken millions of dollars from the U.S. government, took directions from the CCP to persuade the American people a lab leak was nothing more than a ‘conspiracy theory,’” said Representative Michael McCaul, the committee’s top Republican, in a statement to National Review.
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@george-k said in China's disinformation campaign:
“It’s incredibly concerning that Peter Daszak, an American scientist who has taken millions of dollars from the U.S. government, took directions from the CCP to persuade the American people a lab leak was nothing more than a ‘conspiracy theory,’”
Wait, people on the left use accusations of "conspiracy theorist" to marginalize ideas and people they don't like? And they do this because..... it works?
Where's my fainting couch?
Oh man, all those people inadvertently letting their tribalism slip by their over-use of "conspiracy theory" accusations must be so embarrassed right now. I mean, to the extent they have any self-awareness whatsoever. Which is to say, they're probably not feeling embarrassed right now.
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More stuff in the report:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/a-compelling-case-for-covids-lab-leak-origin
The Wuhan Institute of Virology came on the U.S. radar in January 2018 after State Department officials visited the lab and were alarmed by the lack of proper personnel and protocol to operate a high-containment laboratory safely. These cables also warned WIV was working on bat coronaviruses that could ignite a pandemic similar to the 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak, which also originated from a Chinese lab leak.
Fast forward to Sept. 12, 2019, when WIV’s online database of virus samples suddenly disappeared from WIV’s computers and has not been found since. In the weeks following the data disappearance, searches for “cough” spiked in the Wuhan area on Chinese search engines, and satellite data shows parking lot volume at five hospitals close to WIV also reached daily highs.
Then on Oct. 18, 2019, athletes from around the world arrived in Wuhan for the Military World Games. A Luxembourg participant described Wuhan as a “ghost town” while there. He found it odd officials took his temperature when he arrived at the airport.
A Canadian athlete reported the city “was in lockdown” — in October 2019. He recounted he and 60 of his colleagues became sick 12 days after they arrived.
Athletes from Italy, Brazil, Sweden, and France also complained of COVID-like symptoms while in Wuhan. Each of these countries has since documented COVID-19 cases in their country before the outbreak became public in January 2020. In short, the Military World Games in Wuhan appears to have been the world’s first superspreader event.
