Since the onset of the Covid pandemic more than three years ago, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the origins of the virus, with some speculating whether it emerged from a laboratory leak or occurred naturally. Researchers attempting to uncover the truth have faced obstacles due to a lack of transparency from China, the country where the virus first emerged.
However, an article published in The Sunday Times on Saturday (June 10) claimed that Chinese scientists were conducting covert experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which led to a leak and initiated the Covid outbreak. The report, citing US investigators, stated that no information about the research was published because it was conducted in collaboration with the Chinese military, which provided funding and had an interest in bioweapons.
According to The Sunday Times, the Wuhan Institute of Virology began investigating the origins of the Sars virus in 2003 and received funding from the US government through a New York-based charity. The institute conducted risky experiments on coronaviruses collected from bat caves in southern China. Initially, the findings were made public, with the institute justifying the associated risks by stating that the work could aid in the development of vaccines.
In 2016, researchers discovered a new type of coronavirus in a mineshaft in Mojiang, Yunnan province, where individuals had died from symptoms resembling Sars. Rather than reporting these deaths, China chose to keep them hidden. The report noted that these viruses found in the mineshaft are now recognized as the closest relatives to Covid known to have existed before the pandemic. They were transported to the Wuhan Institute, and the research conducted by its scientists was classified.
American investigators believed that the classified program aimed to enhance the infectivity of the mineshaft viruses in humans, ultimately leading to the creation of Covid, which escaped from the lab due to a laboratory accident. One investigator stated, “It has become increasingly clear that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was involved in the creation, promulgation, and cover-up of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The Sunday Times report also highlighted that China obstructed foreign experts from investigating the source of the pandemic. British bat expert Alice Hughes, who worked at the Chinese Academy of Sciences overseeing the Wuhan Institute, was barred from speaking to the media about her research and was under surveillance by Beijing. These restrictions forced her to leave China and relocate to Hong Kong.
As countries emerged from lockdowns, US investigators were granted access to secret intelligence regarding events in China before the emergence of Covid. The report stated that over a dozen investigators were given access to intercepted metadata, phone information, and internet information collected by US intelligence services.
The report also revealed that the shadow project on the mine viruses at the Wuhan Institute received funding from the Chinese military. In a separate report, US State Department investigators stated that despite presenting itself as a civilian institution, the Wuhan Institute of Virology collaborated on publications and secret projects with the Chinese military. The institute had engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017.
The Chinese military held positions of responsibility within the institute, and the cover-up of the Mojiang case was attributed to military secrecy surrounding their pursuit of dual-use capabilities in virological biological weapons and vaccines. The military was interested in developing a vaccine for these viruses to potentially use them as bioweapons.
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