Josh Rogin - Chaos Under Heaven

262 lab was shut down: Zhuang Pinghui, “Lab That First Shared Coronavirus Sequence Closed for ‘Rectification,’” South China Morning Post, February 28, 2020, https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3052966/chinese-laboratory-first-shared-coronavirus-genome-world-ordered.

262 the organization tweeted: World Health Organization (WHO) ( @WHO), “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” Twitter, January 14, 2020, 3:18 a.m., https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1217043229427761152.

262 in a statement: “Statement on the Second Meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee Regarding the Outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (2019-NCoV),” World Health Organization, January 30, 2020, https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-outbreak-of-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov).

262 praised China’s strategy: “Report of the Director-General, 146th Meeting of the Executive Board,” World Health Organization, February 3, 2020, https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/report-of-the-director-general-146th-meeting-of-the-executive-board.

263 told the New York Times: “He Warned of Coronavirus. Here’s What He Told Us Before He Died,” New York Times, February 7, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/world/asia/Li-Wenliang-china-coronavirus.html.

264 to 120 countries: Ryo Nakamura, “US Counters China’s ‘Mask Diplomacy’ with $225m Coronavirus Aid,” Nikkei Asian Review, April 8, 2020, https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/US-counters-China-s-mask-diplomacy-with-225m-coronavirus-aid.

264 the White House said: Judd Deere 45 Archived, “Today, @realDonaldTrumpSpoke with President Xi Jinping of China. President Trump Expressed Confidence in China’s Strength and Resilience in Confronting the Challenge of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak.,” Tweet, @JuddPDeere45(blog), February 7, 2020, https://twitter.com/JuddPDeere45/status/1225627973635715072.

266 tweeted on March 12: Lijian Zhao (@zlj517), “CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!,” Twitter, March 12, 2020, 7:37 a.m., https://twitter.com/zlj517/status/1238111898828066823.

267 a new study: Ben Hu et al., “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-Related Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origin of SARS Coronavirus,” PLoS Pathogens 13, no. 11 (November 30, 2017): e1006698, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1006698.

269 issued a moratorium: Sara Reardon, “US Suspends Risky Disease Research,” Nature News 514, no. 7523 (October 23, 2014): 411, https://doi.org/10.1038/514411a.

269 an article in Nature: Declan Butler, “Engineered Bat Virus Stirs Debate over Risky Research,” Nature News, November 12, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2015.18787.

271 released a statement: Peng Zhou et al., “A Pneumonia Outbreak Associated with a New Coronavirus of Probable Bat Origin,” Nature 579, no. 7798 (March 2020): 270–73, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2012-7.

271 Shi claimed: Jonathan Latham and Allison Wilson, “A Proposed Origin for SARS-CoV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Independent Science News, July 15, 2020, https://www.independentsciencenews.org/commentaries/a-proposed-origin-for-sars-cov-2-and-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

271 According to one researcher: Xiaolu Tang et al., “On the Origin and Continuing Evolution of SARS-CoV-2,” National Science Review 7, no. 6 (June 1, 2020): 1012–23, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaa036.

271 may be overestimated: Yue Li et al., “The Divergence Between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 Might Be Overestimated Due to the Extensive RNA Modification,” Future Virology 15, no. 6 (April 24, 2020): 341–47, https://doi.org/10.2217/fvl-2020-0066.

271 such as a pangolin: Li et al., “Divergence.”

271 there’s no evidence: Ping Liu et al., “Are Pangolins the Intermediate Host of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)?,” PLoS Pathogens 16, no. 5 (May 14, 2020): e1008421, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008421.

272 In an interview: Jane Qiu, “How China’s ‘Bat Woman’ Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus,” Scientific American, June 1, 2020, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/.

272 published a paper: Xing-Yi Ge et al., “Coexistence of Multiple Coronaviruses in Several Bat Colonies in an Abandoned Mineshaft,” Virologica Sinica 31, no. 1 (February 1, 2016): 31–40, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12250-016-3713-9.

274 was immediately tarred: Alexandra Stevenson, “Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins,” New York Times, February 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/business/media/coronavirus-tom-cotton-china.html.

275 Washington Post column: Josh Rogin, “State Department Cables Warned of Safety Issues at Wuhan Lab Studying Bat Coronaviruses,” Washington Post, April 14, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/14/state-department-cables-warned-safety-issues-wuhan-lab-studying-bat-coronaviruses/.

276 “ no scientific evidence”: “Fauci: No Scientific Evidence the Coronavirus Was Made in a Chinese Lab,” National Geographic, May 4, 2020, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/05/anthony-fauci-no-scientific-evidence-the-coronavirus-was-made-in-a-chinese-lab-cvd/.

276 Chinese CDC officials declared: James T. Areddy, “China Rules Out Animal Market and Lab as Coronavirus Origin,” Wall Street Journal, May 26, 2020, https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-rules-out-animal-market-and-lab-as-coronavirus-origin-11590517508.

277 little-noticed study: Shi-Hui Sun et al., “A Mouse Model of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Pathogenesis,” Cell Host and Microbe 28, no. 1 (July 2020): 124–133.e4, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2020.05.020.

279 released its own study: Qiu, “How China’s ‘Bat Woman.’”

280 tried to erase: “Brief Introduction,” Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, accessed October 1, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20150823141414/ http://english.whiov.cas.cn/About_Us/Brief_Introduction/.

280 published a paper: Xiaoxu Lin and Shizhong Chen, “Major Concerns on the Identification of Bat Coronavirus Strain RaTG13 and Quality of Related Nature Paper,” Preprints, June 5, 2020, https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202006.0044.v1.

283 tried to patent it: “Wuhan Institute of Virology (China) Sought to Patent Gilead’s Remdesivir,” TrialSite News, March 16, 2020, https://www.trialsitenews.com/wuhan-institute-of-virology-china-sought-to-patent-gileads-remdesivir/.

284 wrote on March 4: Emily de La Bruyère and Nathan Picarsic, Viral Moment: China’s Post-COVID Planning, Coronavirus Series (Horizon Advisory, March 2020), https://www.horizonadvisory.org/news/coronavirus-series-report-launch-viral-moment-chinas-post-covid-planning.

286 focused on a statement: “Statement by NCSC Director William Evanina: Election Threat Update for the American Public,” Office of the Director of National Intelligence, August 20, 2020, https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/item/2139-statement-by-ncsc-director-william-evanina-election-threat-update-for-the-american-public.