The Biden administration "is determined not to let us know" about the origins of the coronavirus and its possible leak from a U.S.-funded lab in China, according to a leading regional expert.
Gordon Chang, a veteran China analyst, said in an interview with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) published Wednesday that "it could take years" for Americans to learn the full extent of China’s role in leaking the coronavirus that caused a global shutdown and millions of deaths.
"Unfortunately, the Biden administration is determined not to let us know" what exactly Dr. Anthony Fauci's National Institutes of Health was funding in China, Chang told Blackburn. "I think it's because Dr. Anthony Fauci purposefully evaded the 2014 ban on federal funding of gain of function research," a scientific process in which a virus is made even more deadly so researchers can study it. This practice is banned in the United States for being too dangerous. "So, what [Fauci] did is he funded it in China, specifically at Wuhan Institute of Virology."
"Eventually the American people will get the truth, but it could take years," Chang said, pointing to efforts by the Biden administration to downplay American funding for the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese lab at the center of the COVID leak. The exact nature of America's role in supporting this research still remains unclear, and Chang believes this is due to the Biden administration's efforts to shield Fauci from criticism.
Fauci, Chang added, likely perjured himself before Congress when he claimed that his agency was not funding so-called gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
"So, either [Fauci] didn't know what his institute was doing, or he committed perjury twice last year," Chang said, referring to Fauci’s denial before the Senate that the NIH was engaged in funding gain of function research in China. "I'm of the view that he had to know what was going on for various reasons, and therefore, he did commit perjury. And the Department of Justice doesn't seem to care."
Chang’s comments are bolstered by a Senate Republican report that determined a lab leak is the most likely explanation for the pandemic. U.S. funding for the Wuhan Institute has become a lightning rod in Congress and among watchdog groups that are pushing lawmakers to stop funding foreign labs like the one in China. A coalition of organizations on Monday pressed the House and Senate appropriations committees to deny further funding for these foreign labs, which also are based in Russia and other countries unfriendly to the United States.
Chang also criticized the Biden administration for its muted response to a wave of protests in China centered on the Communist regime’s draconian coronavirus restrictions. The administration has remained largely silent as Chinese citizens rise up against their oppressive government.
The response from the Biden administration to these protests "was really dispiriting," Chang told Blackburn. "If the United States isn't going to stand up for freedom and democracy, nobody will. But also, people notice this around the world, not just in China, [and] there's a national security implication to this."