Wuhan Lab Could Disguise Coronavirus as ‘Natural’: Report | China In Focus

Welcome to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, Dr. Fauci and an over four million dollar grant are back in the spotlight. Nearly uncovered emails say some of those funds helped the infamous Wuhan lab with a study on how to leave no signature of purposeful human manipulation of coronaviruses and that the FBI knew about it. Why in the world are we funding anything in China? This is absolutely makes no sense. China reportedly acquiring NVIDIA AI chips despite a widening U.S. ban on selling them to the country. How did China skirt the trade bloc? America's top envoy Antony Blinken highlighting Beijing's human rights atrocities days before heading to China to meet with CCP officials. And Germany arresting an EU parliamentary aide on charges of spying for China. It follows the detention of three Germans on similar charges just hours before. Emails revealed through a Freedom of Information Act request pointing fingers at China for manipulating coronaviruses. The evidence accuses certain Chinese experiments of being designed to hide purposeful manipulation of the viruses. What's more that research was reportedly funded by millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. A grant greenlit by Dr. Anthony Fauci and the FBI knew about it. Here's more. One of several emails sent to the FBI back in 2020 reported details of the Chinese experiments. It detailed experiments on how biotech could be used to charge coronaviruses but at the same time the changes would leave no signatures of purposeful human manipulation. The same email adding the research would quote test the ability of the resulting novel viruses to infect human cells in culture and to infect laboratory animals. The email also noted two important names saying the current NIAID grant was marked for certain coronavirus studies being conducted at the WIV. NIAID refers to the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci headed the institute at the time and WIV is short for the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That's the now infamous Chinese biolab sitting in the same Chinese city where the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in 2019. According to the NIAID's website the U.S. government granted the institute over four million dollars and Dr. Fauci's agency sent some of that money to the Wuhan lab. In another of the emails an FBI agent described the findings quite alarming. The agency received these emails back in April 2020 but they were not made public until last Friday. Fast forward to this Friday non-profit Judicial Watch obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request. The identities of the people involved in the email conversation were redacted. Worth noting Washington suspended federal funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology last summer given the lab failed to alleviate Washington's concerns over its ties to the COVID-19 pandemic. FBI chief Christopher Wray said publicly last year that the virus most likely came from China's lab. He stated that quote you're talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government controlled lab that killed millions of Americans. The U.S. intelligence community as a whole is divided on the matter. At least one other agency is also assessing a lab origin as likely for COVID-19. Others are undecided or lean toward the natural origin theory. China has largely blocked investigations into the origins of COVID-19 and declined to make information from the lab public. To discuss further concerns about U.S. funded virus research at the Wuhan lab we sat down with John Mills retired army colonel and senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. John Mills thank you so much for joining us great to have you back on the show. Tiffany thank you always an honor to be on the show with you. Now the non-profit Judicial Watch was the one that obtained these emails through FOIA or Freedom of Information Act. Now they found that this was the agency headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and that they funded 4.3 million dollars of the grant. Some of those funds went to the infamous lab in Wuhan. Now given what we know now or don't know about the pandemic how do you see all of this fitting in? I think we need to know truth and this helps reveal truth on what was going on. We had U.S. government taxpayers money going to Wuhan and what was going on here and I think Dr. Fauci and EcoHealth were not fully honest revealing on what was going on. What what was there why did Fauci work so hard to suppress anything about a connection of the Wuhan lab with this work? I think this is information that should have been out there from the beginning. On that note these techniques are known to people who are familiar with it. Why do you think that this research was given to China? Why not other countries? This does bring up the question of the bio lab program. The bio lab program is a growth of the 1992 Nunn-Lugar bill that was updated during the early 2000s. That's when this unexplainable series of bio labs were created out around the world. Primarily run originally was Department of Defense but in in the early 2000s the transition mostly Department of Energy and State Department. DoD was still a player. I believe Wuhan is listed as one of the bio lab efforts so there does seem to be an intersection and it begs the question in modern times why in the world are we funding anything in China? This is absolutely makes no sense in today's environment and I hope there is no more secret grants going to Wuhan or anything in China. Now a question sent in on this topic. Why in China is the Chinese Communist Party not bound by the treaty preventing genetic experiments on viruses? Well I believe what they're referring to is the bio warfare treaty which I believe China did sign in the I think it was 1984. I think it was in the 80s maybe 84. So China is a signatory to the the bio treaty is one of the the top five or six grand treaties of the cold war era and you can do bio you can have a lab to do bio defense. Gain of function is not bio defense. You're weaponizing the lab process and the procedures. So China is a signatory. They should not be doing this. We have to find truth and we need to hold because again as FBI director right millions of Americans and millions more around the world died because of this chaos and we still don't know truth on the Wuhan lab. John Mills thank you so much for your time. Tiffany thank you always an honor to be on your show. Banned NVIDIA microchips are surfacing in China. New research shows China obtained the high-end AI chips through resellers despite a broad US ban on selling them to China last year. Let's take a closer look. A Reuters review of hundreds of tender documents show 10 Chinese entities acquired advanced NVIDIA chips. They were embedded in server products made by super microcomputer Dell Technologies and Taiwan's Gigabyte Technology. It happened after the US expanded the embargo to subject more chips and countries to licensing rules in November. The servers contain some of NVIDIA's most advanced chips according to the previously unreported tenders. While the US bars the firms and its partners from selling advanced chips to China, including via third parties, the sale and purchase of the chips are not illegal within China. The 11 sellers of the chips were little-known Chinese retailers. Reuters could not determine whether in fulfilling the orders they used stockpiles acquired before the US tightened restrictions. NVIDIA said the tenders do not indicate that any of their partners violated the export control rules. The server makers said they complied with applicable laws or would investigate further. Buyers included the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other prominent bodies, some of them state-run. The US Commerce Department said officials would investigate credible allegations of violations. A thank you from the president-elect of Taiwan. William Lai says the over $8 billion aid package that passed in the House over the weekend would boost confidence in the Indo-Pacific region. This act will not only strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific allied chain, it will also help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and also boost confidence in the region for the US's determination to safeguard freedom and democracy in the region. For Taiwan, pressure from a potential Chinese invasion is looming. China sent over 14 warplanes nearly island over the weekend. The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as part of China and has pledged to take it under control by force if necessary. The CCP has never ruled Taiwan and the island's ruling party staunchly denies Chinese sovereignty. Washington is Taiwan's biggest backer, selling the island weapons so it can defend itself. If passed, parts of the $8 billion package would go toward bolstering Taiwan's defense. Two US lawmakers visiting Taiwan expressed their support. It's very important that we continue to be partners and we continue this arrangement and relationship that we have for the whole world to see. Peace is our goal, right? Peace is our goal. The $8 billion are part of the $95 billion foreign aid package that passed the House on Saturday. Most of the money would go to Secretary of State Antony Blinken released the annual human rights report on Monday, which analyzes other nations' human rights records. Some of the most serious violations listed are from the Chinese Communist Party. This comes ahead of Blinken's visit to China this week. NTD's Jack Bradley has more from the State Department. Secretary Blinken is expected to talk about China's human rights abuses on his visit to China this week. Now this comes amid a report that was released, an annual country reports on human rights practices, which covers nearly 200 countries and territories. It details the Chinese regime's crimes against humanity, particularly targeting practitioners of religious belief, like the Muslim Uyghurs or Falun Gong, a Buddhist-based practice centered around the tenets of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Now here's Robert Gilchrist, the senior official in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. And he will, as in all of his engagements with the PRC, raise human rights at the highest levels and in the clearest way. And that means with regard to the full array of concerns that we have with the PRC. And we'll go into details with regard to specific conversations. But of course, this is an issue that remains of concern and is one that we raise with our Chinese counterparts. The report highlights the Chinese regime's killings, imprisonment and forced organ harvesting of Uyghurs and practitioners of Falun Gong. Now, as these individuals experience this persecution, they face propaganda from state-run media to defame their reputations. And as this report comes to light, Blinken sure has a lot to talk about on his trip to China this week. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. In Germany, a European Union lawmaker's aide was arrested Monday. That's over suspicions that he spied for China. The news came less than 24 hours after German authorities arrested three people for allegedly spying for China in a separate case. The suspect is accused of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of repeatedly passing on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament in January. Prosecutors allege that he also snooped on Chinese dissidents in Germany. He's worked for a German lawmaker in the European Union's legislature since 2019. Authorities did not identify the lawmaker, but Maximilian Krah, a self-described right-wing politician in the EU Parliament, said he found out about the arrest of his employee from the press Tuesday. Krah is his party's top candidate in the European Parliament election this June. Krah said he doesn't have further information, adding that he would fire the aide if the allegation is confirmed. Over to Taiwan, a series of earthquakes rocked the country overnight. Authorities have reported no major damage and no casualties. The U.S. Geological Survey says the strongest quake had a magnitude of 6.1. This comes after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit the island earlier this month. That tremor killed 17 people and injured over a thousand. NTD's Jeremy Sandberg has the latest on Taiwan's quakes. Taiwan officials say two multi-story buildings took further damage overnight after being evacuated earlier this month after a magnitude 7.4 quake. The U.S. Geological Survey says the epicenter of Tuesday's 6.1 magnitude quake was south of the city of Hualien. I don't dare to sleep. The half-dozen other tremors, all near Hualien, ranged from magnitude 4.5 to magnitude 6. The rural area took the brunt of the damage from the earthquake earlier this month. Hualien's mayor asked residents not to stay inside buildings until danger subsides. Everyone is in panic and fear. I hope all residents can move to an open place. Buildings across large parts of Taiwan swayed, including in the capital, Taipei. As we live on the sixth floor, I felt it was a bit troublesome to go down. Taipei residents seemed largely unfazed, with some saying they kept sleeping, even as the island shook overnight. Yes, we still have to sleep. Yes. I was very tired. I just continued to go back to sleep, hoping for the best. Taiwan has strict construction standards and widespread public education on earthquakes. Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC said it saw no impact on operations. Jeremy Sandberg, NTD News. That's all for today's China InFocus on YouTube. We're now sharing a shortened version of our program here after being demonetized for three years. If you'd like to support us, consider donating. Find us at donorbox.org slash china-in-focus or subscribe to our partner platform, Epic TV, where you can watch our full episodes. Just click the link down below. Here's what to look out for in our second half. Could some US weapons be manufactured in Taiwan? Some lawmakers have floated the idea to help ease a $19 billion delay in US weapons deliveries. The US and China locked in a race to put humans back on the moon. NASA asking Congress for a budget boost to keep America's edge. My concern would be is if China got there first and suddenly said, okay, this is our territory, you stay out. And is China exploiting the war in the Middle East? A government commission in Washington discusses how the ongoing conflict in the region benefits the Chinese regime. More on that after the break here on China InFocus. Thanks for watching China InFocus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. See you tomorrow.