As senior U.S. officials prepare to meet their Chinese counterparts for their first face-to-face meeting during the Biden administration, says the former State Department chief investigator who heads the task force on the origins of the COVID-19 virus overseen, told Fox News that he not only believed the virus escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but it could have been the result of research the Chinese military or the People’s Liberation Army conducted on a bio-weapon.
« The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not the National Institute of Health, « David Asher, now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Fox News in an exclusive interview. “A classified, classified program was carried out. I think, and I am only one person, I think it was a biological weapons program. «
Asher has long been a follow the money guy, having worked on some of the most classified intelligence investigations for the State Department and Treasury Department under both Democratic and Republican administration. He led the team that did the The international nuclear procurement network of the father of the Pakistani nuclear program, AQ Khan, uncovered important parts of North Korea’s secret uranium enrichment. He believes the Chinese Communist Party has been involved in a massive cover-up over the past 14 months.
« And if you believe how I think this could have been a weapon vector that went wrong, wasn’t released on purpose, but was in development and then somehow leaked, it turned out to be the greatest weapon in history, « Asher said during of a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute: The Origins of COVID-19: Politis What are the implications and lessons for the future. « They took out 15 to 20 percent of global GDP. They killed millions of people. The Chinese population is hardly affected. Their economies were again number one in the entire G20. »
« Motive, cover-up, conspiracy, all the signs of guilt are associated with it. And the fact that the first group of victims surrounded the very institute that carried out the extremely dangerous, if not dubious research, matters, ”said Asher, who served the Chinese government during the SARS. Outbreak in 2003 as chief representative of the Foreign Ministry.
Initially, China said the COVID-19 virus originated from the Wuhan Seafood Market – but the problem with China’s theory: The first case had no connection to the market U.S. information suggesting that there was an outbreak among several Wuhan laboratory scientists with flu-like symptoms that took them ill in November 2019 nhaus – before China reported its first case. Asher and the other Hudson Institute experts announced that China announced in 2007 that it would begin work on genetic bioweapons, using controversial research to gain functionality to make the viruses more deadly.
The Chinese heard in 2016 Wuhan lab to speak publicly about their research. Asher believes that was when the People’s Liberation Army stepped in and moved from biodefense research to the bio-offensive. In the same year, China’s leading state television commentator
“We entered an area of Chinese bioweapons and, among other things, used viruses. I mean, they have publicly stated to their people that this is a new priority in the context of Xi’s national security policy, « Asher points out.
According to Asher, in 2017 the Chinese stopped publicly about research into coronavirus disease vectors speak that could be used for weapons. At the same time, the military began funding research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Meanwhile, U.S. bioweapons researchers are still mainly focused on older bioweapons like anthrax. A crucial turning point in the search for a way to defend against coronavirus bioweapons was the controversial research on gain in functionality and a breakthrough in the Netherlands that surprised science.
“I remember that day was in The Hague with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the news broke that a laboratory in the Netherlands funded by the National Institutes of Health was carrying out functional research on highly pathogenic avian influenza, in particular to increase the transmissibility of this very dangerous flu virus « , recalls Andy Weber, former assistant secretary of defense for biological, chemical & biological defense programs under President Obama.
The Obama administration was quick to impose a moratorium on this type of research because it feared it would be a playbook for terrorists could be. The Trump administration lifted the moratorium in 2017, but stopped NIH funding for the Wuhan lab in April 2020 after the pandemic started.
According to experts, biosafety is on par with China’s labs 4 Biosafety has long been a problem. « China has been involved in this type of virus research since 2003, the SARS outbreak, » said Miles Yu, the State Department official who recently joined former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the WSJ has written an opinion on the virus origin. “China’s biosecurity standard is very low and very dangerous. So this is an accident waiting to happen. “
When the WHO dispatched team to Wuhan in February visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, they did not wear biosecurity suits and spent 3 hours indoors, but reportedly had no access to the scientists or data they needed to completely rule out the virus escaped from the laboratory.
At the time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, « It should be noted that virus traceability is a complex scientific problem and we experts suffice Must provide space to conduct scientific research. » He added: « China will continue to work openly, transparently and responsibly with WHO to help prevent future risks and protect the lives and health of people in all countries. »
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