[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 92 (Friday, May 15, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E447-E448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE WUHAN VIRUS WEB OF LIES
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HON. JOE WILSON
of south carolina
in the house of representatives
Friday, May 15, 2020
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, as a former journalist
myself, it is sad the mainstream media is so biased due to Trump
Derangement Syndrome of mindless hatred. There is unlimited U.S. fake
news, the Chinese Communist Party is relentless with propaganda, Russia
blogs sow absurd discontent, Iranian zealots flat out lie, but in the
midst of this madness it should be gratefully recognized there are rare
beacons of truth as evidenced on March 19th with The Epoch Times
editorial The Web of Lies Spun Around the CCP Virus.
It is especially noteworthy what was correctly opined months ago is
still rarely true today. It is so important and correct it should be
worthy of the Congressional Record for the American people to know
today and historians in the future. I include in the Record a piece
authored by Heng He, a commentator on Sound of Hope Radio, a China
analyst for NTD and a writer for The Epoch Times newspaper.
``The Web of Lies Spun Around the CCP Virus''
The world can learn much by paying attention to how the
outbreak of the CCP virus--commnonly known as the novel
coronavirus--has been handled in China.
There were at least two well-known doctors at Wuhan Central
Hospital during the outbreak, the whistleblower Dr. Li
Wenliang and whistle-provider Dr. Ai Fen.
Ai is the emergency room director who saw a SARS
coronavirus-positive test report for a patient on Dec. 30,
2019, and sent the report to a friend. The report immediately
circulated in a circle of eight doctors that included Li.
The reaction was almost instantaneous. At 10:20 p.m., the
hospital sent a message conveying a Wuhan Health Commission
notice that anything about the ``unknown pneumonia''
shouldn't be made public. One hour later, the hospital sent
another, similar notice. Then, on Jan. 2, Ai was called to
the hospital office and was rebuked by a hospital official,
who also conveyed orders from higher authorities. Ai didn't
talk about the virus afterward, not even to her husband,
until Jan. 20.
Li and seven other doctors who were considered
whistleblowers got more serious punishment. They also were
censured, and not by hospital officials, but by police on
Jan. 3. The censorship effort turned out to be very
successful; all of the doctors who knew about the outbreak
kept silent.
Meanwhile, the rest of China and the world were kept in the
dark for at least another 20 days.
The coverup and censorship had begun before Ai shared the
test report. Wuhan Central Hospital sent out the first
``unknown pneumonia'' patient sample on Dec. 24, 2019. The
report, which the hospital received Dec. 27, indicated that a
coronavirus was found in the sample, with 70 percent
similarity to SARS coronavirus. A report from a second test
facility stated simply, ``SARS.'' Both facilities were
private companies.
The hospital reported the results to the Wuhan Health
Commission the same day, which means that Wuhan officials
knew of the disease three days earlier than Ai. While the
Wuhan Health Commission can directly order the hospital to
silence doctors, only administrative officials can order the
police to punish whistleblowers.
The coverup was already at the city government level as
early as Jan. 3.
[[Page E448]]
Other organizations also covered up the outbreak. On Jan.
1, the Hubei Provincial Health Commission notified gene-
sequencing companies not to take the Wuhan pneumonia samples,
not to test the samples, not to submit scientific papers, and
not to reveal the results to the public. It also was ordered
that all samples must be destroyed.
On Jan. 3, the National Health Commission formally banned
all non-governmental facilities from testing samples related
to the Wuhan pneumonia case, which the Beijing financial
magazine Caixin recounted, in the report ``Tracing the Novel
Coronavirus Gene Sequencing: When Did the Alarm Sound.'' The
Caixin article was taken down several hours after being
published.
HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION
An esteemed, senior doctor named Zhong Nanshan was used to
manage part of another coverup. Zhong went to Wuhan on Jan.
19. Before he left Wuhan to go to Beijing the next day, he
announced that the virus was capable of human-to-human
transmission, which authorities at different levels had
denied.
Before Zhong, two groups of experts had been sent to Wuhan
by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
(China CDC). Why is it that Zhong would find something within
one day while so many experts visiting Wuhan couldn't?
Caijing, another Beijing-based financial magazine,
interviewed an expert from the second group, and asked those
in the group whether hospital staff had been infected--the
key evidence for human-to-human transmission. The experts
never got an answer.
Zhong had earned a good reputation for fighting SARS and is
the leading Chinese official for fighting respiratory
infectious diseases. An outsider to Wuhan, he hadn't been
involved in the previous coverup. He had the authority to
change the status of the epidemic disease, and could change
the tone without exposing government wrongdoing.
Zhong, then, was just another tool of the Party. During
this outbreak, even partial ``truth'' from the CCP becomes
part of the lies.
From day one, every Party and government organization--and
the hospitals and individuals inside the system--has been
involved in weaving a web of lies. Anyone who intentionally
or unintentionally exposed the lies was immediately silenced,
by different organizations, at different levels, and by
different authorities.
`Disasters Make the Nation Strong'
The CCP's institutions are designed for keeping its power,
not for preventing and handling natural disasters, especially
not for something like the novel coronavirus.
The pattern is usually like this. When a large-scale
natural disaster such as an earthquake or flood occurs, the
CCP doesn't need to do much for the victims and survivors.
Digging up survivors is for taking photos or videos--saving
lives is the least concern.
During the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, classrooms
collapsed, killing schoolchildren, while government buildings
remained standing. But officials were never held accountable
for the corruption that caused the shoddy school
construction. The CCP's ``solution'' was to jail parents and
activists who sought the truth and justice.
In fighting disasters, the most important work is to brag
about how great the CCP is. The people can only see the
gratitude of the survivors to the Party, the red-flag-waving
rescue teams, the award and victory celebration ceremonies,
and other similar actions. As time goes by, people who have
no direct experience of the suffering can only remember--the
propaganda, while totally forgetting the victims and the
officials responsible for the disaster.
This pattern is captured in the CCP slogan, ``disasters
make the nation strong.'' It might be difficult to understand
that natural or even man-made disasters can be transformed
into a ``good thing'' to enhance the CCP's power. After the
victims, the survivors, and the activists are silenced, CCP
can easily generate the support of those who haven't suffered
personally.
The disasters don't make the nation strong. They make the
CCP strong.
scapegoats
During this virus outbreak, the CCP has gone even further.
``Disasters make the nation strong'' has become ``CCP saves
the world.'' The CCP has claimed that China bought time for
the world, a boast that has been echoed by some Western
media.
But if the CCP didn't cover things up, there was not need
to ``buy time.'' The CCP is very good at allowing a small
problem to grow, then using all resources to fight the ``big
problem.'' People see the CCP fighting the big problem so
efficiently that they tend to forget the problem was
originally created by the CCP. This is part of the Party's
information war.
From the beginning, Chinese authorities have sought to pass
the blame for the outbreak. The first scapegoat was Huanan
Seafood Market (HSM). HSM was formally mentioned as the
source by Chinese authorities on Dec. 30, 2019, on Jan. 11 by
the Wuhan Health Commission, and on Jan. 22 by Gao Fu, the
director of China CDC.
However, three papers, including two from Lancet and one
from the New England Journal of Medicine, and all by Chinese
doctors and scientists, published between Jan. 24 and 30,
tell a different story.
In the first 41 cases, 13 of then had no HSM contact
history, and the first case, and two of three subsequent
cases, had no HSM history. Since those cases were all
confirmed before Jan. 11, the Wuhan Health Commission was
aware that HSM could only be the first cluster, and not the
original source. Denial of human-to-human transmission is one
thing, while intentionally misleading about the origin of the
disease is a totally different issue. What did they want to
hide?
The second scapegoat is the pangolin, the odd mammal with
scales whose meat is considered a delicacy. On Feb. 7, a
research group at South China Agriculture University
announced that they had found a virus in the pangolin that
has a 99 percent similarity to the coronavirus causing the
Wuhan pneumonia.
However, one of the researchers, Shen Yongyi, pointed out
in an interview with Nanfang Daily that the pangolin sample
wasn't from the university's collection but from a certain
specific government unit. Shen said that under heavy
pressure, results were revealed to the public, rather than
publishing them in a scientific journal first.
Since these two scapegoats didn't work well, the United
States has become the new target.
Zhao Lijian, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry
Department, has claimed that a U.S. military team brought the
coronavirus to Wuhan. This was not Zhao's personal mistake.
Before Zhao's accusation, the SARS-fighting Dr. Zhong said
that because the coronavirus outbreak appeared in China
doesn't mean it originated in China. Since then, Zhao's
accusation and similar finger-pointing have flooded China's
social media.
If the HSM and pangolin were put forward to find someone,
anyone, to blame, out of a spontaneous response, the decision
to point at the United States is an equally well-orchestrated
strategy from the top circle of the leadership. Why does the
CCP want to do something so obviously wrong that nobody
around the world would believe? The CCP is trying to turn the
coronavirus controversy to its advantage, especially in
China.
What else could be more effective and convenient than
blaming the United States? The United States has been the No.
1 scapegoat for all the CCP's own problems for the past 70
years.
Did the CCP lie about the Wuhan outbreak at the early
stage? Yes. Is the CCP still lying now? No doubt. Will the
CCP lie in the future? Definitely. What should we do? Don't
trust anything from the CCP. That's what Taiwan has been
doing, and doing so well.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, Taiwan was abandoned by
the World Health Organization (WHO), which favors the CCP.
Facing the coronavirus, Taiwan can only rely on itself. The
most important lesson the rest of the world can learn from
Taiwan is not to trust the CCP or WHO.
While some countries believe that Taiwan should be accepted
by WHO, it turns out that it's not Taiwan that needs WHO, but
the whole world needs Taiwan.
The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which
causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the
Chinese Communist Party's coverup and mismanagement allowed
the virus to spread throughout China and create a global
pandemic.
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