The China Covid-19 Secret May Be Finally Here
We do not know if the report is true. Dong Jingwei and his daughter left China February 10 via Hong Kong and defected to the US carrying with them documents and secrets about the Covid-19 outbreak in China. He is, or was, Vice- Minister of State Security and a top spymaster for the Chinese government and the Communist party. Rumors about defections of Chinese officials are nothing new. But this rumor has more weigh and should be taken seriously. Three factors need to be considered. First, although no confirmation is forthcoming from the US government, which normally doesn’t confirm or deny intelligence reports or information, a primary source for the rumor is a Chinese dissident who defected to the US over the Tiananmen Square events of 1989. The issue of Dong’s defection was raised in March by Chinese officials at the US-China meeting in Alaska, according to Dr. Han Lianchao, a former Chinese foreign ministry official who now lives in the US. Second, Mr. Dong was not seen in public in China and authorities there did not arrange for his public appearance or on TV to show that he remains inside China and has not left the country. On June 18, Chinese press reports published a photo of his participating in a symposium but the location of the event was never mentioned. Furthermore, several Chinese citizens suspected on social media platforms that the photo is for someone who resembles Mr. Dong. They believe that a simple TV appearance by Mr. Dong could have quelled any rumors but that has not happened so far.
Biden’s New Probe
Third and most important is the fact that President Biden has decided to reopen the investigation over the origins of the virus. The question was whether the virus originated at the Wuhan’s wet markets where animals are sold and bought dead and alive by the Chinese and where the virus could have jumped from the animals to humans. That is one theory. The other theory is whether the virus escaped from the Wuhan Virology laboratory. The first infection in China dates back to 17 November before the virus ever reached any other part of the world. Why did Mr. Biden decide to reopen a closed file unless he received new information from Mr. Dong. US intelligence agencies now have 90 days to complete a new investigation. And their job would be much easier now if the defection rumor was true. He would have handed the intelligence agencies critical information supporting the theory that coronavirus escaped from the laboratory.
The Covid-2 Story
The Covid-2 in 2002 also originated in China. Scientists did not work on a vaccine because the Covid-2 vanished on its own and there was no urge to pursue vaccination efforts to deal with a virus that was no longer in existence. It is believed however that whatever initial research conducted to deal with Covid-2 was helpful in developing the Covid-19 vaccines quickly. But China’s transparency remains in question over both Covid-2 and Covid-19. The Covid lab leak theory has been dismissed by the Chinese government and others as a “conspiracy” for more than a year but is being reignited now. If the rumors are true, Mr. Dong would be the highest Chinese official to defect to the US. His evidence may have even sparked Mr. Bien’s U-turn on the Covid probe. President Biden announced in late May a new review after having closed a previous investigation. Even the World Health Organization that attempted to investigate the issue by sending a group of experts to China now says the virus leak theory remains possible.
Who is Mr. Dong?
Mr. Dong served as counterintelligence boss of China’s Ministry of State Security, also known as Guoanbu. His responsibilities included early pathogenic studies of the virus, models of the virus spread and financial records showing who funded the research. He is also reported to have lists of names of spies operating in the US as well as information of Chinese hacks on critical American systems.
With tensions growing between the US and China some false rumors have recently been floating but Dr. Han of the Tiananmen Square defection wrote in a tweet this week that if true, Mr. Dong defection “is really a big bomb.”
Why Transparency?So far, 3.75 million people worldwide had died from Covid-19 and at least 174 million were infected, according to the WHO. The world deserves to know the origins of the virus and how it spread to avoid a repeat or the spread of other diseases. The keyword to safety is transparency. Read More By The Author
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Newslooks.com
