China lied about the human-to-human transmission of coronavirus, made whistle-blowers disappear and refused to help nations develop a vac...
China lied about the human-to-human transmission of coronavirus, made whistle-blowers disappear and refused to help nations develop a vaccine, a leaked intelligence dossier reveals.
The 15-page document drawn up by the Five Eyes security alliance brands Beijing's secrecy over the pandemic an 'assault on international transparency' and points to cover-up tactics deployed by the regime.
It claims that the government silenced its most vocal critics and expunged any scepticism about its handling of the health emergency from the internet.
China has roundly come under fire for suppressing the scale of its early outbreak which did not afford other nations time to react before the disease hit their shores.
Five Eyes - the pooling of intelligence by the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - laid bare their blunt assessment of the Xi Jinping administration in the memo obtained by the Australian Saturday Telegraph.
The smoking gun file shows that Western intelligence agencies have found evidence the virus spawned in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, close to the wet market China says it came from.
It comes after Donald Trump announced this week he had seen evidence the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab.
A leaked 15-page dossier from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance claims China's secrecy over the pandemic is an 'assault on international transparency'. The files show the nations were probing the possibility the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (above)
Intelligence officials found a series of cover-ups by the Chinese government including the 'deadly denial of human-to-human transmission', the silencing or 'disappearing' of researchers who tried to raise the alarm, the hiding or destruction of evidence of the outbreak and a refusal to hand over live virus samples to other countries to enable them to develop vaccines.
The newspaper also reported a partnership between Chinese and Australian labs where research was carried out relating to a bat-derived coronavirus that could not be cured.
China's cover-up of the seriousness of the outbreak can be traced back to early December, the dossier reveals.
China had 'evidence of human-human transmission from early December,' the intelligence found, but continued to deny it could spread this way until January 20.
'Despite evidence of human-human transmission from early December, PRC authorities deny it until January 20,' it states.
'The World Health Organisation does the same. Yet officials in Taiwan raised concerns as early as December 31, as did experts in Hong Kong on January 4.'
Human rights groups believe Mr Fang Bin – along with lawyer Chen Qiushi and former state TV reporter Li Zehua – are in extrajudicial detention centers
Dr. Shi Zhengli pictured in a lab in 2017. Her research into deadly bat-derived coronaviruses was cited a key concern by the intelligence, according to the dossier
Zhengli and her team have conducted research in the lab into deadly bat-derived coronaviruses, with at least one of the virus samples being a 96 percent genetic match for COVID-19, the dossier claims
The report reveals China then started censoring news of the virus on search engines from December 31, deleting terms such as 'SARS variation, 'Wuhan Seafood market' and 'Wuhan Unknown Pneumonia.'
On January 3, China's National Health Commission then reportedly ordered virus samples be destroyed and issued a 'no-publication order' about the virus.
The papers highlight that China imposed travel bans on people traveling throughout the nation but continued to tell the rest of the world travel bans were unnecessary.
'Millions of people leave Wuhan after the outbreak and before Beijing locks down the city on January 23,' it reads, according to The Telegraph.
'Thousands fly overseas. Throughout February, Beijing presses the US, Italy, India, Australia, Southeast Asian neighbors and others not to protect themselves via travel restrictions, even as the PRC imposes severe restrictions at home.'
Doctors and scientists who tried to raise the alarm about the virus and China's handling of it have also vanished or been punished, according to the documents.
Huang Yan Ling, a researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and thought to be patient zero for the global pandemic, mysteriously disappeared and her biography was deleted from the lab's website.
The institute has denied she was patient zero and said she is alive but she has not been heard from since.
Other whistleblowers including businessman Fang Bin, lawyer Chen Qiushi and former state TV reporter Li Zehua are reportedly being held in extrajudicial detention centers for speaking out about China's response to the pandemic.
This week, Trump said he had seen evidence that coronavirus may have been created in the Chinese lab
The dossier shows some disagreement among the Five Eyes nations over whether the virus originated in the Wuhan lab or the wet market, the Telegraph reported.
It claims the nations were probing the possibility the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with several studies led by scientist Dr. Shi Zhengli being cited as concerns in the report.
The dossier outlines that Zhengli and her team have conducted research in the lab into deadly bat-derived coronaviruses, with at least one of the virus samples being a 96 percent genetic match for COVID-19.
This week, Trump said he had seen evidence that coronavirus may have been created in the Chinese lab.
'Yes I have. Yes I have,' Trump said when asked if he had seen proof the virus originated in the institute.
He would not divulge what the evidence was that confirmed his suspicions.
However, Australia has maintained the virus most likely came from the Wuhan live animal market and said there was only a 5 percent chance it came from the lab.
Australia's own connections with the lab were also documented in the dossier, according to The Telegraph.
The Telegraph reported that the Australian government trained and funded key scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, as part of an ongoing partnership between the CSIRO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The team members worked in the CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory where they carried out research into deadly pathogens in live bats.
It was revealed in April that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had received a $3.7million grant from the US government, and had been carrying out research on bats.
A Wuhan food market. Australia has maintained the virus most likely came from the Wuhan live animal market and said there was only a 5 percent chance it came from the lab. Australia's own connections with the lab were also documented in the dossier, according to The Telegraph
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