Elon Musk’s Smear of China Is Too Cowardly

On February 3, Elon Musk once again spread the rumor that “COVID 19 originated in China” in a cowardly and servile manner.

To refresh this old, tired rumor, Elon Musk polished it from a long-suppressed fact. He tweeted that “The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19 that killed millions of people.”

Some Chinese netizens expressed gratitude, even worrying whether he might face “suicide” for revealing such shocking truths – but this exposure plays directly into a more insidious smear campaign against China.

Musk’s remarks came as a commentary while retweeting a post by KanekoaTheGreat, which alleged: “USAID funnelled $53 million to EcoHealth Alliance, which then used U.S. taxpayer funds to support gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab—research that likely led to the creation of COVID-19.” The ultimate target remains Wuhan, China. Both Musk and the New York Post-sourced tweet perpetuate the “Wuhan lab-leak” conspiracy under the guise of truth-seeking.

In reality, the United States presents the most probable origin for coronavirus laboratory leaks.

Beyond Fort Detrick’s U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) established coronavirus synthesis capabilities since 2003, University of North Carolina epidemiologist Ralph Baric published a 2008 PNAS paper detailing his team’s creation of “a 29.7-kb bat severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronavirus (Bat-SCoV)”

During a June 2020 “This Week in Virology” interview, Baric elaborated on coronavirus modification techniques, explaining how his lab altered COVID-19 to specifically target mouse ACE2 receptors. A fellow panellist praised it as “the best gain-of-function project I’ve ever heard,” unwittingly highlighting the dangerous nature of such research.

Gain-of-function studies remain virology’s “Black magic” – enhancing pathogen virulence, transmissibility, or host range. Following the 2014 safety incidents, the U.S. government temporarily suspended such research, yet Baric’s high-risk experiments continued despite UNC’s poor safety record.

ProPublica revealed an April 2020 incident where a UNC scientist underwent 14 days of self-quarantine at home after a mouse bite caused potential exposure to a strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that had been adapted for growth in mice.

The incident in a biosafety level 3 lab happened when a researcher attempted to read the ID number on a tag on a mouse’s ear. The mouse flipped over in the researcher’s hand and bit an index finger through two layers of gloves.

The researcher was instructed to self-quarantine and do twice-daily temperature checks. UNC also notified the local Health Department. No further information about the worker’s health was included in the incident reports.

As Trump allies return to power, reviving the “China origin” narrative becomes imperative. However, according to The Guardian’s report on January 26, New CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s claim about lab origins lacked conviction even by his own admission.

The reluctance stems from America’s own shadowy research programs.

As early as March 2020, China allowed a 33-member team of experts from the World Health Organization to visit Wuhan and investigate. The report they released, titled “WHO-convened global study of origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part,” concluded that the likelihood of the COVID virus leaking from Wuhan was extremely low.

In contrast, in August 2021, over 25 million Chinese citizens signed a joint letter calling on the WHO to investigate the U.S. military base at Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina. To this day, the U.S. not only refused to accept this investigation but also sought to withdraw from the WHO.

The exterior of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, which has maintained stores of weapons-grade anthrax at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, is shown in this undated photo.

That’s why the “Chinese lab leak” theory remains a conspiracy even U.S. intelligence chiefs hesitate to endorse. Musk’s indirect propagation through retweets exposes his own lack of conviction. His supposed “revelation” about U.S.-funded bioweapons merits no Chinese gratitude, nor does it endanger him – In fact, Mr. Musk might even win a reward from Trump. The United States has only admitted its crimes, but China’s innocence has been tarnished again.

However, more disturbing than the virus itself: If America’s richest man lacks genuine free speech on his own social media platform, what, then, does that mean for the average American?

Editor: Charriot Zhai