Heavily redacted cables, obtained by the public-health transparency group U.S. Right to Know, has revealed that months after the onset of the Covid pandemic, “State Department officials came to the conclusion that the outbreak could have been contained had the Chinese Communist Party officials acted to prevent the viral spread rather than trying to conceal its existence” as reported by National Review.
The cables were sent years ago, only months after the onset of the pandemic, from July 2020 to January 2021 and include the heading: “Initial Outbreak Could Have Been Contained in China if Beijing Had Not Covered It Up.”
Reporting by the Associated Press found that Chinese officials waited an entire six days to warn the public after they confirmed the highly contagious, potentially lethal coronavirus had originated in the country.
The cables, which appear to have been sourced through the American Institute in Taiwan, which functions as a de facto U.S. embassy, confirms the Associated Press findings.
In one cable, the State Department notes Beijing “ordered” party members to obfuscate regarding the source of the virus. A leaked directive, cited in the cable, allegedly confirmed that the regime restricted disclosure of virus information. Another heading states that Chinese president Xi Jinping tried to claim no responsibility for the coverup and refused transparency throughout the crisis.
In a January 14, 2020, private teleconference with provincial health officials, the leader of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, shared the seriousness of the situation and told localities to prepare for a pandemic.
“The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,” read a memo of Ma’s comments obtained by the AP. “With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high.”
National Review reports that the cables show:
Instead of giving any warning to the public, Wuhan held a massive celebration for tens of thousands of people, likely accelerating the rate of transmission. During that week, in which Chinese citizens were in the dark about the virus spreading across the country, over 3,000 people were infected, according to internal documents reviewed by the AP and an expert analysis of retrospective infection data. In 30 days, the virus expanded from the Hubei province, home to the capital of Wuhan, to the rest of mainland China.
The newly released cables further indicate that CCP leaders, rather than local officials, led the effort to censor information about the viral outbreak, particularly when the accounts called Beijing’s leadership into question.
In one cable, the State Department assesses that Beijing “ordered” party members to obfuscate regarding the source of the virus. A leaked directive, cited in the cable, allegedly confirmed that the regime restricted disclosure of virus information. Another heading states that Chinese president Xi Jinping tried to claim no responsibility for the coverup and refused transparency throughout the crisis.
In a January 14, 2020, private teleconference with provincial health officials, the leader of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, shared the seriousness of the situation and told localities to prepare for a pandemic.
“The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,” read a memo of Ma’s comments obtained by the AP. “With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high.”
In the memo, Ma urged the provincial leaders to rally around Xi and affirm his authority. A day later, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing deployed the highest-level internal emergency response, anticipating the human toll and likelihood of overwhelming hospitals and health supplies, an internal CDC document obtained by the AP indicates. But while the regime was on high alert, it publicly communicated a message that the virus was not yet dangerous to humans.
“We have reached the latest understanding that the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low,” Li Qun, the head of the China CDC’s emergency center, told Chinese state television on January 15.
Notes in the other cables seem to support an early State Department opinion that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) “has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017.”
The State Department strongly suspected that the military wing of the CCP was intimately involved in the WIV, according to the cables, possibly running “shadow labs” for bioweapon purposes. It notes that the WIV had “robust cooperation” with the “PLA AMMS,” likely standing for the Academy of Military Medical Sciences within the People’s Liberation Army. A PLA contractor was involved in the construction of the lab, the cable says. Another PLA link was established in the WIV’s formal partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of a Chinese government-owned pharmaceutical group that was involved in the development of the country’s Covid vaccine.