China warns Elon Musk after the Twitter CEO shared posts that promote the lab leak theory of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cryptic warning came from a social media post by the state-run newspaper Global Times. The post was a reaction to Musk’s comment on a tweet that mentioned the Department of Energy’s (DOE) conclusion that COVID-19 originated at a lab in Wuhan, China.
It went on to suggest that Musk’s actions could hurt Tesla’s relationship with China, which is the company’s second-largest market.
The original tweet, from the account “Kanekoa The Great,” questioned whether former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci was involved in the development of COVID-19 because he had funded “gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.“
“He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth),” Musk responded, referring to the nonprofit organization that had received roughly $8 million in federal research grants for the purpose of investigating bat coronaviruses in China.
This comes after a shocking leak from the DOE suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, in a classified intelligence report.
The lab leak report was provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the WSJ alleges, with a federal intelligence official confirming the update but refusing to clarify details on what new intelligence led to the DOE’s reassessment of the virus’ origin.
The department previously disregarded the lab leak theory and was undecided on COVID-19’s origins. Now, both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DOE are directing the blame toward China.
The theory was fueled last year after Andrew Huff, a scientist who worked for New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, said that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology more than two years ago and blamed authorities for the “biggest US intelligence failure since 9/11.”
Both Chinese government officials and lab personnel have vigorously denied that the lab was the source of COVID-19, which has been the subject of heated discussions.
With this new information, Republicans now want to question the former Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, Fauci, and President of EcoHealth, Dr. Peter Daszak, on their leadership concerning the “origin” question of COVID-19.
