A newly-unearthed State Department cable suggests that the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was operating so-called “shadow labs” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
The heavily redacted State Department cable from Aug. 2020, now obtained by the watchdog group U.S. Right To Know, has a section labeled “Cyber Evidence of PLA Shadow Labs at WIV and Bioengineering University.” PLA refers to the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military.
From a redacted State Dept cable, FOIAed by @USRightToKnow:
“Initial outbreak could have been contained in China had Beijing not covered it up”
“Who ordered the cover up? The signs point to Beijing, not local officials”
“Xi lied to obfuscate his role” https://t.co/oGsL5brHNq
— Nate Sibley (@NateSibley) June 15, 2023
The details of the evidence are redacted, but other sections include “PLA Contractor Involved in the Construction of the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” “PLA Presence Continued After Construction Completed” and “WIV Personnel with Possible PLA Ties.”
The cables uncovered by USRTK were seemingly routed through the American Institute in Taiwan, which essentially functions as a U.S. embassy on the island. Some of the individuals named on an email thread containing the cable are former Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science, Space, and Health Johnathan Margolis and David Feith, the deputy assistant secretary for regional and security policy and multilateral affairs in the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Bureau.
Two other cables obtained by USRTK address the CCP’s focus on “military-civil fusion” research and the way top leadership in Beijing suppressed information in the early days of the pandemic. “Initial Outbreak Could Have Been Contained in China if Beijing Had Not Covered It Up,” the third cable reads.
USRTK obtained the cables through a Freedom of Information Act request. (RELATED: Biden Admin Drops References To Chinese Communist Oppression From Tiananmen Square Statement)
WIV lead researcher Shi Zhengli, China’s “batwoman” known for her gain-of-function research on bat-based viruses, had previously asserted that there was no classified research happening at her lab, but these cables cast doubt on that claim. Shi was a key collaborator in researching bat-based viruses with Western scientists, including Peter Daszak, co-founder of EcoHealth Alliance.
EcoHealth Alliance is the U.S.-based non-profit that has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to the WIV via grants from government agencies like the National Institutes of Health.
Proponents of the lab-leak theory believe that COVID-19 was accidentally leaked from the WIV after being either genetically engineered or modified by scientists there who were doing dangerous gain-of-function research.