Double standards against China
In the U.S., there are lots of biobanks covering a number of industries including agriculture and energy, contributing to a huge sample database that China doesn’t have, said insiders reached by the Global Times.
No one can guarantee that the U.S. biobanks are 100-percent safe and are subject to effective supervision, they noted.
With a mixed record on safety, the U.S.’ ambiguous, double-standard attitude toward the COVID-19 lab leak theory has led many in the public to become increasingly suspicious: it keeps smearing Chinese labs for “l(fā)eaking the virus,” while attempting to cover up its domestic situation.
Anthony Fauci, a top U.S. expert in public health, was previously criticized by people in and out of the U.S. for being inconsistent on the lab leak theory. Fauci rejected the claim in July, which contradicted his earlier statements such as “not convinced COVID-19 developed naturally” and calling for more investigations focused on Chinese labs.
Coronavirus expert Baric, whose team reportedly have refuted the lab leak theory though, told Spanish media that some man-made viruses can be “disguised” as coming from nature through techniques, and even implied that files at Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) have the answers people want.
Baric was also among the scientists who jointly wrote a letter in May to criticize the WHO’s investigation into the virus’ origins, which had ruled lab release in Wuhan “extremely unlikely.” “A rigorous investigation would have reviewed the biosafety level under which bat coronavirus research was?conducted at WIV,” NBC quoted Baric as saying in June.
Ironically, while slandering Chinese labs using the lableak claim, the U.S. keeps suppressing the voices that are calling for investigations on its own labs. After Peter Daszak, a British zoologist who had been to Wuhan as a WHO expert team member, condemned The New York Times for engaging in selectively misquoting WHO experts to fit its own narrative, he was defamed by Western media and found his funding cut-off.
Australian virologist Danielle Anderson, the only foreign scientist to have worked in the high-security BSL-4 lab at the WIV, was threatened by a few extreme conspiracy theorists for defending WIV and refuting the lab leak saying. She had to call the police and lock down running app for safety reasons, Sydney Morning Herald reported in June.
Western social media platforms also helped to shut down those who raise legitimate questions about U.S. labs, the Global Times found. “Greg Rubini” for example, a Twitter account that U.S. government claimed is owned by a right-wing conspiracy theorist, was suspended after posting tweets that accused the U.S. labs including the ones at the UNC of leaking the COVID-19.
Driven by the political need to smear and suppress others, the U.S. has been busy muddying the waters, engaged in stigmatization, and turning COVID-19 origins-tracing study into a political weapon, Zhao said on Friday.
The U.S. “has made lying, vilifying and coercing its standard operating practice without any respect for facts, science or justice,” FM spokesperson Zhao said. “Such despicable behavior will leave a stain in the history of the humanity's fight against diseases.”
