[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

                                 ______
                                 

                            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.

                          ____________________