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The early stages of the new coronavirus outbreak began, and conspiracy theories about the origin and extent of the virus spread online.
This includes some obviously wrong claims, for example, that the virus is part of China’s “secret biological weapons program”; For another example, some people claim that Canadian Chinese spies sent the virus to Wuhan.
The claim that the virus is artificial has been circulated from many groups and Twitter accounts on Facebook, and even appeared on the prime-time program on Russian state television.
Not only did these conspiracy theories not disappear a few months after the outbreak, but Chinese and US government officials, senior politicians, and the media also began to run out of new unconfirmed claims.
Various guesses
In the absence of evidence, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian repeatedly stated that the new coronavirus may have originated in the United States. On March 21, he tweeted that the US military could have brought the virus to Wuhan.
A day later, he tweeted an article posted on the Global Research website titled “There is more evidence that the virus originated in the United States,” and urged Internet users to read and share this article. This article was later removed.
The official Chinese media “Global Times” echoed Zhao’s point of view. Despite the newspaper’s emphasis, Zhao Lijian made these comments on a personal basis, and his comments caused “a similar question from the Chinese public.”
Global Research is the website of the Globalization Research Center, which was established in Canada in 2001. According to PolitiFact, an independent fact-checking website in the United States, the center has raised misleading conspiracy theories on issues like 911 , vaccines and global warming.
Zhao Lijian’s Twitter article was written by regular contributor Larry Romanoff and then reiterated the conclusion of his previous (now deleted) article that the virus did not originate in China.
But the Chinese studies and articles he cited in the journal “Science” did not actually question China as the source of the outbreak. These articles simply say that the animal market in Wuhan may not be the source of the new coronavirus.
Romanov also said that Japanese and Taiwanese scientists “have identified that this new coronavirus may have originated in the United States.”
However, this conclusion appears to be based on a report by the Japanese television station that was discredited in February, and on a statement by a pro-Beijing political party politician who was born on a Taiwan television station as a professor of pharmacology. From the beginning, Romanov wrongly described the person as a “superior virologist”.
Romanov also claimed without evidence that the US Army Laboratory of Bacteriology. USA At Fort Dietrich, Maryland, it may be the source of the virus. He said: “This is not a surprise,” and the laboratory was “completely closed” last year due to “a lack of safeguards to prevent pathogen leakage.”
In fact, according to a New York Times report at the time, the lab was not closed, only the investigation was suspended. A spokeswoman said no hazardous materials were leaked from the laboratory.
Who is Romanov
Romanov claims to be “a retired entrepreneur and management consultant, visiting professor at Shanghai Fudan University, who teaches case studies in international affairs in the EMBA class.”
According to the “Wall Street Journal”, the staff of Fudan’s two MBA programs are not familiar with Romanov. The BBC asked Fudan University if Mr. Romanov was a visiting professor at Fudan, but received no response.
As a contributor to the “Global Research” website, most of Romanov’s articles seem to criticize the United States and support China. In one article, he described the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests as “a color revolution incited by the United States.”
He also voiced some other allegations that were problematic. He said in a podcast this month that the early New Coronavirus was “China-specific” and did not infect people of other ethnic origins.
The BBC contacted Romanov for comment, but received no response.
Accidentally leaked?
Chinese government officials and the media’s claim that the United States is a possible source of the new coronavirus has attracted the response of US President Trump. Trump once called the new crown virus the “Chinese virus.” US Secretary of State Pompeo called on China to stop spreading “false information.”
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Trump recently announced a suspension of funds for the World Health Organization and referred to the organization as “China-centered.” WHO Director-General Tan Desai said now is not the time to cut funding for UN agencies.
But some American politicians and commentators have also made unfounded allegations about the origin of the virus. Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson cited a study that suggested the new coronavirus may “accidentally escape from a laboratory in Wuhan.”
Republican Senators Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz made the same point.
The research came from two Chinese researchers, Xiao Botao and Xiao Lei, from South China University of Technology, and was published as a “preprint” or first draft in early February without formal peer review. The bottom line is that “the deadly new coronavirus may have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan.”
But Xiao Botao told the Wall Street Journal that he withdrew the study. The Wall Street Journal quoted him as saying: “The speculation about the possible origin is based on published documents and media, and there is no direct evidence to support it.”
The Washington Post reported in mid-April that two scientific diplomats from the US embassy. USA They visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology many times in 2018, warning that “the laboratory is not safe enough.” Risk investigation. “
Jeremy Konyndyk once led the response from the US government. USA To the Ebola outbreak. He responded to reports of the laboratory’s accidental leak on Twitter: “Science does not rule out the origin of the laboratory, but this possibility is very low.”
