US military took Trumpvirus to Wuhan

Star Online:

Searching for Covid-19’s origin

Viral diplomatic wars: Trump’s labelling of Covid-19 as a ‘Chinese virus’ earlier this month has infuriated Beijing and ethnic Chinese worldwide 

Trump’s ‘China virus’ label spurs researchers to intensify investigations and some probes are pointing in the direction of the US.

President Donald Trump’s labelling of Covid-19 as a “Chinese virus” earlier this month, which infuriated Beijing and ethnic Chinese worldwide, has prompted researchers to intensify investigations into the origin of the novel coronavirus.

The label, seen as racist and xenophobic, has backfired and does not seem to help the US leader score political points amid the accelerating spread of Covid-19 in the US and the election fever.

In the US, Trump has infuriated his own supporters among the rich Chinese-Americans who have made vast contributions to his campaign funds in his bid to seek a second presidential term.

Under pressure, Trump has stopped using the label since last week. The reaction from Beijing towards the questionable label was strong and immediate. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said “China is strongly indignant at and firmly opposes US stigmatisation” and urged the US “to stop making groundless accusations against China”, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The reaction from ethnic Chinese in Malaysia has been that of disgust and disbelief. But it is the innocent Chinese in America who have had to bear the brunt – mentally and physically.

After Trump’s labelling that cast aspersions the virus had originated from China, cases of racist attacks against Chinese in the US emerged, according to media reports.

In one case, a 12-year-old Asian American boy in Los Angeles was badly beaten by his classmates. In another, a Chinese woman was cursed by a total stranger scolding her for “bringing in the virus”.

Trump’s “China virus” label has caused intense anxiety to the Chinese in the US and this could be seen in posts on social media. In one video, Chinese-Americans are advised to start arming themselves against possible racist attacks.

Arcadia Firearm & Safety in San Gabriel Valley, an area with a high concentration of Chinese immigrants, reportedly saw gun sales rising 10 times in recent weeks.

While the lay people of Chinese ethnicity seem helpless, Beijing appears to have geared up its propaganda machinery to prove that the Covid-19 virus did not originate from China.

Global Times believes this whole anti-China exercise is a public opinion war waged by Trump to “distract attention of the American people away from his failings to deal with the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus in the US”. And China has been made a convenient scapegoat. The official mouthpiece of the Chinese government, in an editorial early last week, reminded the Trump administration to “respect science” before making any conclusion on the origin of the Covid-19 virus.

Although Wuhan was the first place in the world to suffer the Covid-19 epidemic in January, the World Health Organization (WHO) has maintained that the origin of the virus has yet to be identified.

Interestingly, China’s stance has been given unexpected support from scientists in the Trump administration.

 The disease expert leading the Trump administration’s response to coronavirus has distanced himself from the “China virus” label.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in an interview with the prestigious Science magazine last Sunday, said he disagreed with the substance of Trump’s message as it could lead to “some misunderstanding about what the facts are about a given subject”.

The expert declared he has not named Covid-19 as “China virus” or “Chinese virus”, and “will never” call it “China virus”.

Perhaps, the most powerful contradiction to Trump’s “China virus” label has come from Dr Robert Redfield – the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US. When questioned at a House hearing, Redfield agreed that it was “absolutely wrong” for Trump to label the 2019 novel coronavirus as the “China virus”.

In addition, he reportedly admitted to US Congress that some Americans who seemingly died from influenza last year were subsequently tested positive for Covid-19. A total of 200,000 were reported to have died from this influenza outbreak that started in September 2019.

Then there were reports that alleged that five sick US army officers might have been responsible for the spread of the virus to China during the 2019 Military World Games held in Wuhan during Oct 18-27 last year.

The five were hospitalised in Wuhan for an “unknown sickness”, and very soon after they were ferried back to the US by a plane specially sent from Washington.

Based on these reports and Redfield’s admission to US Congress, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian suggested on March 12 that the US army might have brought the Covid-19 disease to Wuhan.

“When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” Zhao had tweeted aggressively.

Chinese netizens, now naming Covid-19 as the “Trump virus” in retaliation to the “China virus” label, are challenging Washington to allow WHO officers to conduct independent investigations, if there is nothing to hide.

More recently, the findings of an American investigative journalist and his friends have become juicy materials against the US.

According to Global Times, George Webb from Washington DC, in his videos, claimed that Maatje Benassi, an armed diplomatic driver and cyclist who was in Wuhan for the 2019 Military World Games, could be patient zero of Covid-19 in Wuhan.

Patient Zero - Maatje Benassi - Maatje Benassi infected many of her American teammates before arriving in Wuhan. Five of them were sick enough to be hospitalized in Wuhan during the games and evacuated back to the US where they later died 

She and other US army officers had allegedly visited Wuhan’s famous wildlife market and other sites. But the most intriguing part of Webb’s findings is that within the US army delegation, there was another female officer who had worked in Fort Detrick.

According to Wikipedia, Fort Detrick, located in Maryland, was the centre of the US biological weapons programme from 1943 to 1969. From 1969, Fort Detrick has continued defensive research into deadly pathogens, including the Ebola virus and the highly toxic poison ricin. It has been involved in testing possible vaccines for the deadly virus Ebola.

According to a news report on Aug 6 last year by Britain’s online news portal The Independent, the lab research at Fort Detrick was ordered by the CDC to shut down in July 2019 due to “failures in handling the dangerous pathogens inside” and “fears of escape”.

Fort Detrick was ordered by the CDC to shut down its biolab in July 2019 due to “failures in handling the dangerous pathogens inside” and “fears of escape” 

As the outbreak of influenza in the US in September came soon after the closure of Fort Detrick, this coincidence in time has prompted Chinese netizens to urge the US to release the health and infection information of the US military delegation that had come to Wuhan in October.

Still, despite all these findings that seem to point towards the US as the most probable birth place of Covid-19, more credible and confirmatory conclusions can only be drawn from the findings of scientists from WHO and other reliable bodies.

*********

kaytee notes:

Sorry HY, contrary to your Mainland baiting, it seems there are grounds, in fact very strong ones when you consider it has been Dr Robert Redfield – the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US - who revealed some Americans who went to Wuhan for military games (sports) last years and seemingly died from influenza were subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.