[Depth of the time] Anti-"virus leakage theory", behind the political persecution of these Western experts

  [Global Times reporter Bai Yunyi, Xing Xiaojing, Zhao Juehui, Guo Yuandan, Chen Qingqing, and Leng Shumei] “Conspiracy theories will only create fear, rumors and prejudice and endanger our global cooperation in fighting this virus.” As early as March last year, there were 27 international organizations. Virologists issued a joint statement in the international authoritative medical journal "The Lancet", "strongly condemn conspiracy theories that imply the unnatural origin of the new coronavirus."

But unfortunately, under the constant manipulation of politicians and media in the United States and other Western countries, some Western scientists simply insisted on the scientific thesis of the "natural origin of the new crown virus", or opposed the spread of the "Wuhan laboratory leak theory" and their dissatisfaction against China. Deliberate slander without evidence has encountered unprecedented political repression and unreasonable personal attacks: some of them have been investigated by the government, some have been asked to resign, some have been forced to withdraw from their research projects, and some have received "Death threats" letters, and others have been harassed by cyber violence and have to undergo psychotherapy, unable to work and live normally... "This is an organized political movement. Any scientist involved in the traceability work, as long as they disagree with the experiment The argument of'room leaks' will be attacked.” A Western scientist who participated in research on virus traceability under pressure told the Global Times reporter who did not want to be named.

In a difficult period when the issue of virus traceability was highly politicized by some Western countries, some international virologists also expressed that they would not back down and would continue scientific research.

  They were suppressed and deliberately attacked

  In dealing with the epidemic and other issues, American virologists have been under domestic political pressure.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, opposed the arguments of "viral man-made" and "Wuhan laboratory leak".

In May 2020, Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House of the United States, made it clear in an interview with National Geographic magazine that “it is almost certain to say that the new coronavirus did not originate from man-made or deliberate manipulation. Regarding the gradual evolution of the virus. All evidence strongly shows that the virus first originated from nature and then spread to humans across species.” However, in 2021, the United States and other Western countries set off a new round of "virus traceability investigations" in the context, especially some politicians frequently. When spreading the "Wuhan Laboratory Leakage Theory," Fauci's stance was erratic under heavy pressure and various attacks.

  In June of this year, Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, and Martha Blackburn, and several other US senators who "will turn against China" clamored for Fauci to resign as soon as possible, saying that he had lost the trust of the American people. If he does not resign, let the "Biden administration fire him."

Rubio made no secret that their "call" was related to Fauci's unwillingness to support the "Wuhan Laboratory Leak" conspiracy theory.

There are also US congressmen threatening to initiate a proposal to "reduce Fauci's salary to zero" and make him responsible for the epidemic in the United States. Some even claim that "Fauci deliberately funded the research of the Wuhan Institute of Virology to make the virus worse. Lethal".

Under such political pressure, Fauci suddenly "changed his tune" not long ago, saying that he was "not sure" whether the new crown virus originated from nature. "Even though many people think that the new crown virus is a natural phenomenon, the existing data cannot fully infer. Provide accurate answers, so WHO needs to continue to investigate the origin of the virus."

However, on June 21, he said in the "New York Times" podcast, "I don't think the new crown virus may be leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China."

Some conservative American media pursued Fauci and ridiculed him as a "liar."

  Fauci is not the only American scientist to be suppressed by politics.

At the beginning of this year, American scientist Peter Dazak, chairman of the US "Ecological Health Alliance", who went to Wuhan with the China-WHO Joint Expert Group on the Traceability of New Coronavirus to carry out joint traceability research was also maliciously attacked.

It is worth mentioning that Peter Dazak sent an email to Fauci in April last year to support and thank him for publicly refuting the "laboratory leak theory" and calling him "courageous."

The British "Guardian" commented that after the email was exposed, Fauci faced "increasing criticism with a strong right-wing and conspiracy color".

  In June last year, Dazak also wrote an article in The Guardian, calling for a conspiracy theoretic attitude against the source of the new crown virus.

In February of this year, Sullivan, the National Security Affairs Assistant to the President of the United States, issued a statement openly questioning the work of the WHO International Expert Group on the Traceability of the New Coronavirus in China. The New York Times and other US media also claimed that “certain actions of the Chinese side seriously hinder “WHO’s traceability research process in Wuhan”, Dazak immediately refuted the rumor on Twitter: “I have no such experience in performing WHO’s mission. As the head of the Animal and Environment Working Group, I think Chinese colleagues are frank and trustworthy. We have obtained important new data and learned more about the transmission of the virus." However, Dazzak, who respects and is loyal to science, is under tremendous pressure.

On June 22 this year, the authoritative British medical journal "The Lancet" issued a statement on its official website saying that Dazak had "evaded" the investigation of the origin of the virus by the New Coronavirus Committee.

  Some American scientists even had to close their social media accounts after being attacked.

In February last year, Christian Anderson, an American virology expert, was not sure whether the new crown virus originated in nature or was "reformed" by someone. He discussed relevant issues with Fauci via email.

In March last year, Christian published a paper in the internationally renowned academic journal "Nature", stating that "existing research shows that the origin of the new coronavirus comes from nature."

However, when the scientist clearly stated his scientific views, he was subjected to huge online violence and had to close his Twitter account.

  Truthful Australian expert received threatening letter

  Australian scientists have been investigated by the government for "telling the truth," and have been subjected to cyber attacks and even death threats by extremists.

In April 2020, Edward Holmes, a professor at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosafety of the University of Sydney, issued a statement on the official website of the University of Sydney, saying that "there is no evidence that the new crown virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan".

Edward also emphasized that "the most likely origin of this virus is other coronaviruses commonly found in wild animals, and they usually transfer to new hosts." Therefore, more animal species samples in nature need to be studied to track down The exact source of the new coronavirus.

  In April last year, the Australian SBS Broadcasting Corporation quoted Edward's point of view in an article entitled "The new crown virus comes from the Wuhan laboratory? Listen to what the experts say" and refuted false claims that discredit the Wuhan virus laboratory.

Edward's professional interpretation was quickly attacked by the Australian "Daily Telegraph" and other media, rumoring that his research was "co-funded by the Chinese government and the military," and the research conclusion was "affected by China."

However, the University of Sydney promptly clarified that “Edward’s research office is funded by the federal government” and that its “work is completely independent” and “it has not received any funding from the Chinese government, companies, institutions, or individuals”.

  According to the "Sydney Morning Herald" report, Edward was not given a good rest for a long time due to continuous online harassment and death threats by conspiracy theorists.

According to a source to the Global Times reporter, while Edward was recently investigated by the Australian government, he also received many anonymous threatening letters encapsulated with bullets, threatening him "if he continues to express similar views, he will be hit harder." .

At present, Edward is undergoing psychotherapy due to excessive pressure and is unable to carry out normal scientific research work.

  Australian virologist Danielle Anderson faced a similar situation.

According to Bloomberg News, Anderson has worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and is the only foreign expert who has worked in the National Biosafety Laboratory of Wuhan Institute of Virology to study the virus carried and transmitted by bats.

Danielle once introduced to the media that the Wuhan Virus Laboratory is an ordinary laboratory and works in the same way as any other high-protection laboratory. The laboratory has strict regulations and requirements for the control of pathogens.

Danielle was very impressed with the protection procedures of the Wuhan virus laboratory, and later introduced the disinfection and monitoring system of the Wuhan laboratory into his laboratory.

Before the end of 2019, none of the people she knew at the Wuhan Institute were sick.

Danielle has also been tested for the new crown virus in Singapore, and it turns out that she has never been infected with the new crown virus.

Danielle believes that the new crown virus is most likely to originate in nature, rather than artificial creation or deliberate leakage.

However, according to Danielle, she became a target of American extremists on the Internet. Her related remarks attracted a lot of harsh comments and even verbal abuse. For this reason, she had to call the police.

  "This is an organized political movement. Any scientist involved in the traceability work will be attacked as long as they disagree with the'laboratory leak theory'." A person who was under pressure and did not want to be named has participated in the virus traceability work. Of Western scientists told the "Global Times" reporter.

According to his observation, such attacks mainly come from right-wing groups in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In addition, there are similar situations in some European countries.

  The U.S. has impure motives and bad intentions

  The United States, Australia and other Western countries have taken actions to suppress experts and scholars who dare to adhere to scientific positions. On the one hand, they are trying to politicize the scientific issue of traceability and eliminate different voices in the process of "shocking the pot" in China; on the other hand, they are also intended to shift internationally. The public eye has ignored the call for a thorough investigation of the source of the US epidemic, including possible problems in Fort Detrick and more than 200 US overseas biological experiment bases.

  A foreign expert from the China-WHO Joint Expert Group for Research on the Traceability of the New Coronavirus recently told the Global Times reporter that after he publicly denied the conspiracy theory of “the laboratory leaks the virus”, he received many emails and emails from U.S. extreme rightists. Phone threats.

The foreign expert said: "Most of these people are white populists, and many of them act like Nazis. They told me that the'patriots' are about to attack me." Another joint expert group asked not to be named. The source said that this is a difficult time for scientists, because the traceability of the virus has been highly politicized, "but we need to continue these scientific studies."

  Dwyer, a member of the WHO Joint Expert Group and an Australian immunologist and epidemiologist, said that the theory that the virus was leaked from the laboratory lacks evidence. The "laboratory leak theory" caters to the political discourse of some countries, and even gets the government of individual countries. Support, there are deliberate factors in its spread.

With the continuous accumulation of evidence and the continuous development of scientific hypotheses, a number of studies have shown that in some other countries, some suspected positive samples were discovered earlier than the first case in Wuhan, including the United States.

On June 15, a new study published by the "All of Us" team at the National Institutes of Health showed that in December 2019, the new crown virus had already appeared in the United States.

However, for such research, American politicians and the media who have played up the "viral laboratory leak theory" have avoided talking about it.

  At the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China on June 28, a reporter from the Global Times asked international experts defending scientific positions to respond to the "laboratory leak theory" by resigning.

In this regard, spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the issue of virus traceability is a serious scientific issue, which should be entrusted to scientific researchers for investigation, research, and collaborative discussion.

He also emphasized that the United States has not only "politically persecuted" scientists and threatened scientific researchers to recognize the "conspiracy theories" concocted by politicians for its own interests in the recent past, but it has also halted domestic research on early cases of new coronary pneumonia, with impure motives. Bad intentions.

  In this regard, relevant Chinese public health experts said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times on July 5: “The United States lacks the motivation to carry out more in-depth traceability research. If it is confirmed that the outbreak in the United States occurred earlier than in China, and even the outbreak in China came from the United States, Obviously it is not what American politics and society want to see. On the issue of traceability, unless the United States is willing to allow a third party to conduct transparent and unrestricted investigations, the truth cannot be fully revealed."

  Wuhan University virology expert Yang Zhanqiu told the Global Times reporter that the United States needs to publish more large-scale epidemiological investigation data and case data, including the travel history of these cases, and sort out the differences between these cases and cases in other countries and regions. Relationship.

In addition, another key indicator is to do virological analysis to compare the similarity of viral genomes to determine the source of the US epidemic.

Yang Zhanqiu believes that current research shows that the genetic type of the new coronavirus circulating in the United States is the most, and almost all types of virus strains are spread in the United States.

He emphasized that, from the perspective of traceability, it is of greater significance to conduct traceability investigations in the United States.