Fort Detrick biolab keep silence about suspected COVID-19 outbreak,” a reporter tries but fails to gain access to the facility. In a video posted to Chinese state media outlet CGTN’s YouTube channel titled “Residents around U.S. Another oddball theory attempts to draw a link between COVID-19 and an unrelated outbreak of a respiratory virus in a northern Virginia senior care facility. outlets, including the New York Times, while simultaneously suggesting news about the closure was being “ deleted” from the internet-something more possible in China than the United States.Īs outlandish as some of the Fort Detrick claims by official Chinese sources have been, they represent the sanitized tip of a much larger conspiracy theory iceberg.įrom there, however, Beijing’s claims have gotten more convoluted, including suggestions of a link between the coronavirus and a 2019 outbreak of EVALI (the lung disease associated with vaping) in Wisconsin, with diplomats intentionally or mistakenly claiming the outbreak occurred “only near Fort Detrick”-never mind that Wisconsin is some 800 miles from the lab. Chinese state media hinted at a cover-up by citing coverage of the closure from numerous major U.S. One suggests a temporary shutdown of Fort Detrick in July 2019 over security protocol breaches was a precursor for the wider outbreak. When the theory that Maatje Benassi was patient zero failed to gain traction, Beijing trial-ballooned a host of alternative conspiracy theories. Webb also suggested an Italian disc jockey, Benny Benassi (no relation to Maatje Benassi), was involved in the U.S. To bolster the claim, the state-run tabloid the Global Times cited writings by George Webb, an American conspiracy theorist best known for temporarily shutting down the Port of Charleston, South Carolina, by planting an online rumor that a “dirty bomb” was arriving via a cargo ship. Army reservist Maatje Benassi, who competed in the Military World Games in Wuhan in October 2019. research labs by Chinese investigators-the diplomatic equivalent of “you show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.” But those more measured appeals have been joined by the promotion of elaborate conspiracy narratives, beginning with the claim that the virus was brought from the Fort Detrick area to Wuhan by U.S. Many of those messages have focused on reciprocal transparency and access to U.S. Since March 2020, Chinese government officials and state-affiliated media have mentioned Fort Detrick in more than 400 articles, videos, tweets, and press conferences. lab is “inextricably linked” with Japan’s notorious Unit 731, a germ warfare unit that targeted China during World War II.īut Beijing’s recent information blitz against Fort Detrick is just the latest in a yearlong campaign to cast aspersions on the lab. Many of those tweets have attempted to smear the lab’s reputation, for example by alleging the U.S. According to data collected by the Alliance for Securing Democracy’s Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard, at least 35 key Chinese officials and state media outlets have mentioned Fort Detrick in more than 115 tweets in nine languages since Zhao’s press conference. Army biological research facility in Frederick, Maryland, about 50 miles from Washington. Since then, Chinese diplomats and government officials, in concert with China’s vast propaganda apparatus and covert networks of online agitators and influencers, have worked diligently to focus suspicion on Fort Detrick, a U.S. biolabs all over the world?” he asked in response. “What secrets are hidden in the suspicion-shrouded Fort Detrick and the over 200 U.S. investigation into a possible virus leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian quickly changed the subject. Asked at a May 27 press conference about the U.S. President Joe Biden ’s administration announced it would reexamine the theory that COVID-19 originated in a Chinese lab, Beijing’s response was deny and deflect.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |