Chinese Media: Pompeo ‘Bluffing’ by Linking Coronavirus to Wuhan Lab

Chinese state media on Monday claimed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was merely “bluffing” when he said on Sunday there is “enormous evidence” that the coronavirus originated at a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

Pompeo made the remarks that infuriated the CCP when Martha Raddatz of ABC News asked if he has “seen anything that gives you high confidence” that the coronavirus originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

“Martha, there is enormous evidence that that’s where this began. We’ve said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outside, but I think the whole world can see now,” Pompeo replied.

“Remember, China has a history of infecting the world and they have a history of running substandard laboratories,” Pompeo continued. He continued:

These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab. And so while the Intelligence Community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that and verify so that we are certain, I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.

Pompeo also said the “best experts so far seem to think it was man-made.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) through its Global Times newspaper demanded to see the evidence Pompeo referred to and accused the United States of engaging in “unprecedented propaganda warfare” by constantly reminding the world where the deadly pandemic came from:

Since Pompeo said his claims are supported by “enormous evidence,” then he should present this so-called evidence to the world, and especially to the American public who he continually tries to fool. The truth is that Pompeo does not have any evidence, and during Sunday’s interview, he was bluffing.

The Trump administration continues to engage in unprecedented propaganda warfare while trying to impede global efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The most urgent tasks for international communities are to prevent the virus from spreading and to save lives while restarting the world economy. Ironically, Washington has put forth the weakest efforts in accomplishing the aforementioned tasks. As the US presidential election campaigns are underway, the Trump administration has implemented a strategy designed to divert attention from the incompetence it has displayed in fighting the pandemic. It is clear that their goal is to blame China for the pandemic by pinpointing the country as the source of COVID-19.

The origin of the virus is of serious scientific concern. So far, not one world-renowned scientist has accused the Wuhan Institute of Virology of leaking the virus. US intelligence agencies, acting on orders from US President Donald Trump, have been involved with the investigation. Pompeo has recently declared that he has “enormous evidence” about a so-called “lab leak.” As a result, what was originally a scientific question, has been transformed into a vicious attack fueled by politics, intelligence, and diplomacy. Such filthy behavior defies the essence of science to mislead the general public.

If Washington has solid evidence, then it should let research institutes and scientists examine and verify it. Another option would be to have intelligence agencies release a detailed report on the origin of the virus, which would help the White House keep its fabrications moving forward. Washington has chosen not to pursue either of those options and instead is utilizing a politician like Pompeo to bluff US society with so-called “enormous evidence.”

The Global Times ranted at length that Pompeo was “sacrificing his credibility as a politician” in a “reckless pursuit” to distract from how terrible the coronavirus epidemic has become in the United States.

Very few health experts outside of China believe the CCP has been truthful at any point during the pandemic in reporting how many infections and deaths it caused. One reason the Chinese government lies with such determination about the scope of the pandemic is so it can claim, as the Global Times did again on Monday, that other countries did a much worse job of fighting the virus than China, and they are only blaming China for unleashing the pandemic to distract from their shortcomings.

Raddatz mentioned another reason the CCP concealed the true scale of the Wuhan virus outbreak during her interview with Pompeo on Sunday: U.S. intelligence officials believe “the Chinese government ‘intentionally concealed the severity of COVID-19 from the international community in early January while it stockpiled medical supplies.’”

“In terms of international concealing, I assume you think they did that intentionally to keep as many masks for themselves as possible?” she asked Pompeo. He replied that she had the facts “just about right.”

Raddatz was referring to a report produced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on May 1 and described in a report from the Associated Press on Sunday.

The report, which was not classified but was marked “for official use only,” noted that while China was downplaying the severity of the outbreak at the beginning of the year, it also “increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies.”

The DHS report said that China’s “imports of face masks and surgical gowns and gloves increased sharply” at the same time it was telling the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) that the virus could not be spread by human contact. Perhaps not coincidentally, W.H.O. has consistently described surgical masks as unnecessary protection for people who are not already infected by the coronavirus, even as China was attempting to monopolize the planetary supply of masks.

For some reason, the AP decided to insert a vague editorial defense of the Chinese Communist Party in the middle of its report on the DHS analysis: “Chinese officials muffled doctors who warned about the virus early on and repeatedly downplayed the threat of the outbreak. However, many of the Chinese government’s missteps appear to have been due to bureaucratic hurdles, tight controls on information and officials hesitant to report bad news. There is no public evidence to suggest it was an intentional plot to buy up the world’s medical supplies.”