The US funded Chinese virus research
That may have led to the coronavirus pandemic
What did Dr. Fauci know?
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
Well, I don’t often say this, but Chinese state-run media is right.
For over a year, they’ve been trying to pin the blame for the coronavirus pandemic
on the US.
And it turns out, they could be right—at least in this one sense.
I’m sure by now you’ve heard of the Wuhan lab leak theory.
The idea is, the coronavirus, or what I call the CCP Virus, leaked from the Wuhan Institute
of Virology accidentally.
A number of people outside of polite society—including me—have been talking about this theory for
over a year.
But it’s now become credible in mainstream media.
And it turns out, the US was at least partially funding experiments in the lab the coronavirus
may have leaked from.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the NIAID, which is part of the
National Institutes of Health, the NIH, was giving research grants that were used by the
Wuhan Institute of Virology to study bat coronaviruses.
Some of that funding was also used to create coronaviruses that were more contagious to
humans.
That’s called gain of function research.
Virologists say it helps them study diseases, to prevent future outbreaks.
But so far, it has not prevented future outbreaks.
Also, the Wuhan Institute of Virology had known safety problems as recently as 2018.
We did a full episode on the lab leak theory earlier this week so you should definitely
check it out for some background.
Dr. Fauci is the director of the NIAID, which gave the grants to the non-profit EcoHealth
Alliance, which worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
But Dr. Fauci, as you may remember, repeatedly dismissed the idea the coronavirus came from
a lab.
He especially shut down the idea that the virus was artificially manipulated.
Well, now that all this is coming out, he’s somewhat changed his tune.
How interesting.
And after initially denying funding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,
Fauci is now defending cooperation with the Chinese lab.
He said it would have been a “dereliction of duty” NOT to work with China on coronavirus
research.
That’s a headline that might age poorly.
Fauci now admits there was modest funding of the Wuhan lab, but not for gain of function
research.
Again, gain of function means taking an existing virus and making it more contagious or deadly.
So Fauci says they were NOT funding this kind of research in China.
However, the description of some of the research grants given to the Wuhan lab say researchers
would use techniques like “reverse genetics”...
And “infectious clone technology.”
These are techniques used for gain of function research.
So I’m not entirely sure what Dr. Fauci means by the word ”not”.
And here’s a fun fact: The US government had banned funding this kind of research in
2014.
But there were special exemptions—if the directors of the NIH and NIAID, for example
Dr. Fauci, signed off on them.
The NIH ended up lifting the ban on gain-of-function research in 2017.
And yet Dr. Fauci, as the man in charge of the US coronavirus response, never once questioned
if a Chinese lab working on making coronaviruses more contagious could have been the origin
of the coronavirus pandemic?
Here’s another thing to consider.
The coronavirus research being done at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was being done
by Dr. Shi Zhengli She’s been called China’s Bat Woman for her work on bat coronaviruses.
She had collaborated with a microbiologist at the University of North Carolina.
So...maybe...from now on, the US should reconsider funding research and training doctors for
an authoritarian regime with a history of poor quality standards and massive coverups.
Just a thought.
This week however, the Senate passed an Amendment from Senator Rand Paul banning gain of function
funding to China.
It’s not yet clear if that will become law.
(
What is clear now is that, a couple months ago, the Biden Administration had shut down
an investigation into the Covid Lab leak theory.
More on that after the break.
Welcome back.
The lab leak theory is really having a moment this week.
It also came out this week the Biden Administration shut down a Trump era investigation into the
Covid Lab leak theory.
CNN quoted anonymous sources that said the project was shut down because “questions
were raised about the legitimacy of the findings.”
And CNN also cited other anonymous sources who defended the quality of the work.
And then the State Department denied that the project had been shut down at all because
it was in fact completed.
So we don’t really know what happened there.
What we do know is now the lab leak theory is suddenly the popular kid at school.
And President Biden has asked the US intelligence community “to redouble their efforts to
collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion”
of the origins of the virus.
And to report back in 90 days.
Speaking of US intelligence, the Senate has just unanimously passed a bill requiring the
Director of National Intelligence to declassify "any and all information relating to potential
links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of the coronavirus disease."
So in 90 days, we might know more.
Or maybe we won’t.
But the media is having a really difficult time dealing with this story.
For months, they dismissed the coronavirus lab leak theory.
They said it had been debunked.
It was a foolish conspiracy theory from Trump.
One which Fauci crushed.
(Oh Fauci.
Here’s a tweet from the New York Times from this February.
The Wuhan lab has been the focus of unfounded conspiracy theories promoted by the Trump
administration about the pandemic’s origins.
( Well, now they have to do some major backpedaling.
This has been a hard time for experts, fact checkers, and the Science.
Politifact just retracted its Wuhan lab theory fact check.
But not to worry.
The media figured out how to cover up their mistakes—with a little mental gymnastics.
You see, it wasn’t their fault they failed to look into this story.
It was Trump’s fault!
This piece in the Washington Post
says the mainstream media “overcorrected” because the information came from Trump.
That’s a fancy way of saying: We were wrong, but don’t want to take responsibility.
And here’s CNN.
(“I do think it's important to remember that part of the issue when this was first
being reported on and discussed was a few months after the pandemic had begun, was that
then President Trump and Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State, both suggested they had
seen evidence that this was formed in a lab, and they also suggested it was not released
on purpose but they refused to release the evidence showing what it was.”
You mean you couldn’t do your own research?!
I was talking about this over a year ago!
)
And believe me, I don’t have the resources of CNN.
Especially since YouTube was demonetizing or straight up deleting our episodes talking
about the coronavirus lab leak theory.
By the way, please support us on Patreon.
We really can’t afford to make this show without your support.
All it takes is a dollar per episode.
Check out patreon.com/ChinaUncensored to learn more.
And I’ll have more China news for you after the break.
Welcome back.
Unless YouTube demonetized this episode as well, in which case, patreon.com/chinauncensored.
Seriously, we need your help.
So, Dr. Fauci is probably not the most popular person in the US right now.
But I’m afraid he’s also not popular in China.
Because Chinese state-run media is also targeting him.
“Chinese state media has lashed out at Fauci, saying he has joined an ‘opinion war against
China.’”
...after saying he wasn’t convinced Covid happened naturally.
My favorite Chinese state-run media, the Global Times, called him a degenerate US elite.
Now before you agree with the Global Times, it's because “He is fanning a huge lie against
China.”
Another Global Times article says there should be a probe into a US biolab for the coronavirus
origin.
I can tell Xi Jinping where to stick that probe.
The call for an investigation into Fort Detrick was also echoed by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson
Zhao Lijian.
Who also accused the US of scapegoating China.
It’s nice to know that no matter what happens, the Chinese Communist Party will always blame
America.
But Chinese state-run media aren’t just attacking US officials.
They’re also accusing the US media of lying.
The Wall Street Journal reported that staff at the Wuhan Institute of Virology got sick
and went to the hospital right before the coronavirus outbreak.
The head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology told the Global Times it was a complete lie.
Unfortunately for the Chinese Communist Party, this “lie” might end up being contagious.
And a sweeping new bill to counter China has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.
It was introduced by Congressman Gregory Meeks , the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee.
It’s called the Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act.
Otherwise known as The EAGLE Act!
The bill covers a range of issues—investment to promote U.S. manufacturing and trade, working
with US allies and partners, re-engagement in international organizations, and calling
China’s treatment of Uyghurs “genocide.”
Meeks is working with Republicans on the House’s Foreign Affairs Committee to make the EAGLE
Act happen.
I love when China brings Americans together.
More on that next week on our other show, America Uncovered.
But there’s some bad news for the Chinese Communist Party.
Countries around the world are starting to realize how much of a threat it is.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister is warning a storm could be coming unless it diversifies
its trade away from China.
Australia is reviewing the Chinese ownership of a major Australian port that just so happens
to be near a US military outpost.
Lithuania pulled out of the 17+1, an economic bloc China created to challenge the EU.
And Taiwan’s foreign minister is warning China is preparing for war.
Of course, if you’ve seen this week’s episode of the China Unscripted Podcast, you’d
know the war for Taiwan has already begun.
I’ll put a link to that in the description below.
And now it’s time to answer a question from a member of the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army,
fans who support us and our efforts to expose the truth about the Chinese Communist Party
on the crowd funding website Patreon.
Mats Mathisen asks, “Hi Chris Does Apple handing over access to Chinese customer data
to the CCP have any effect on customer data outside China?
Should we be worried?
Boy, I’m certainly worried.
So a recent New York Times investigation discovered that Apple has let a Chinese state-owned company
hold Apple’s Chinese customers' data.
Basically the Chinese government can get access to any of that.
And that’s just one of many concessions Apple made to the Chinese Communist Party
in order to do business there.
Apple also proactively blocks apps from its App Store in China might anger Chinese authorities.
To be clear, that means Apple takes the initiative to block apps, the Communist Party doesn’t
even have to ask.
A lot of Apple’s supply chain is in China.
So is a lot of its retail.
Last year Apple made more than $40 billion dollars in China, almost 15% of total sales.
In other words, Apple is willing to do just about anything the CCP says.
And that’s what concerns me.
I doubt Apple would be stupid enough to give American user data, located outside of China,
to the Communist Party.
But what happens when our data starts flowing through China, through undersea cables and
whatnot?
“China now accounts for 23% of cross-border data flows, nearly twice the share of the
U.S.”
And that’s growing.
Because of Big Tech greed, we could find ourselves in a world where the Chinese Communist Party
has more and more access and control over our information.
Thanks for your question and your support, Mats.
And a big thank you to everyone who supports China Uncensored on Patreon.
We could not do this show without you.
So thank you for joining us in the fight to expose the Chinese Communist Party to the
world.
If you’re interested in joining, head over to Patreon.com/ChinaUncensored.
You’ll get a bunch of cool perks, including the chance to have me answer your question
on the show!
Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.