Chinese State Media Anchor Says COVID-19 Started in United States, Escaped Lab
A Chinese state media TV anchor told the Arabic world, on an Arabic-speaking opinion show, that she believed the COVID-19 coronavirus originated in America and was possibly brought into China from a U.S. military lab.
Ms V, as the anchor is known, told an opinion show on CGTN “it is clear that the virus in China was transmitted from abroad,” according to The Daily Mail.
The Washington Times reported The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) focused on one March 17 broadcast of “China View” on Beijing’s Global Television Network Arabic (CGTN), which overall has 14 million viewers, where Ms V peddled the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory speculating that the virus may have been brought in with the Military World Games in Wuhan, last October.
The Washington Times reported:
“Initially, many thought that the beginning of the virus’ emergence was from one of the seafood markets in Wuhan, but Chinese researchers reported in a new research that the transmission of the new coronavirus had started since last December outside this market,” she said, according to MEMRI
“The virus may have transmitted from a source or other sources to the seafood market, where the rapid spread of transmission began due to the presence of a large number of close contacts within this place, and the research also reported that the virus had started spreading after the Wuhan International Military Games ended in October 2019. So, it is expected that the ‘patient zero’ in China has come from outside China,” she continued.
China has reportedly cemented ties with an overall anti-Western Middle East after sketching a blueprint for their Belt and Road Initiative, which promises to build developed infrastructures in the region to facilitate relations and trade–competing with the US.
Washington DC and China have seen their relationship further soured as President Trump continues to pound a fervently anti-China narrative, while China continues to change sketchy narratives surrounding the outbreak.
China’s State-run mouthpiece, The Global Times, recently ran two opinion pieces highly critical of America’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, referring to the US as “primitive” for their actions.
