Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

AFP FactCheck: Chinese ‘spies’ did not steal deadly coronavirus from Canada
AFP FACT CHECK ^ | 01/31/2020 | AFP Canada, Louis Baudoin-Laarman

Posted on 02/08/2020 6:38:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind

Websites and social media users claim that the new coronavirus discovered in the city of Wuhan may have been created in Canada and stolen by Chinese spies. This is false; Canadian health and federal police officials say it has no factual basis.

“Corona virus developed in Canada and stolen by China?” reads the headline of this article from January 22, 2020. It appears to be the first of a series of such claims about the novel coronavirus, which caused an outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading elsewhere in the country and around the world.

Screenshot of a misleading headline on a blog taken on January 30, 2020

Other social media users soon shared similar versions of the claim, referring to the investigation of two Chinese virologists in Canada in 2019. Kyle Bass, an American hedge fund manager who is currently shorting Hong Kong’s currency, falsely claimed on Twitter that a “Chinese spy team” sent pathogens “to the Wuhan facility.” He was retweeted 12,000 times, and screenshots of the tweet were shared on Facebook.

Screenshot of a tweet taken on January 30, 2020

The claims appear to be based on a mischaracterization of August 2019 reports about a transfer of Ebola and Nipah viruses from a Canadian lab to Beijing, and an apparently separate issue involving two Chinese researchers at Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, in the central province of Manitoba.

(Excerpt) Read more at factcheck.afp.com ...


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Health/Medicine; Science
KEYWORDS: canada; china; conspiracytheories; coronavirus; israel; jerusalem; letshavejerusalem; oldnews; prc; spy; waronterror; wuhan
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 02/08/2020 6:38:30 PM PST by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The RCMP investigation

In July 2019, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that two researchers with ties to China were removed from the NML in Winnipeg by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for a possible “policy breach.” The article did not mention the coronavirus.

Robert Cyrenne, spokesman for the RCMP in Manitoba, told AFP by email that “there is no connection between the outbreak in China and any RCMP investigation. Any reporting of such is misinformation.”

Cyrenne confirmed to AFP that the investigation involving the researchers is still ongoing.

Dr Xiangguo Qiu, who helped develop a treatment for the Ebola virus, her husband Keding Cheng, a biologist who has published papers on coronavirus strains such as SARS-CoV, and Chinese students working under them had their security access revoked for Canada’s only level-4 lab, a facility equipped for research on the deadliest diseases.

2 posted on 02/08/2020 6:39:20 PM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Strange how, when you ask the spies, they always claim they did nothing.


3 posted on 02/08/2020 6:40:01 PM PST by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ConservativeMind
FROM THE ARTICLE:

The virus transfer

Claims that the novel coronavirus was created in Canada refer to another report involving the NML. One month after Qiu, Cheng and the students were escorted off premises, CBC reported that live Ebola and Nipah viruses had been shipped to Beijing in March 2019 for research.

PHAC officials told CBC that all procedures were followed for the shipment of those level-4 pathogens, the deadliest. But the short interval between the Air Canada flight they were transported on and Qiu and Cheng’s removal led to suspicion that the two events could be connected.

The RCMP declined to comment on any potential connection between the investigation and the virus shipment to Beijing.

Bass’s tweet claims that Qiu was suspended for sending pathogens to Wuhan. In fact, the two pathogens were sent to Beijing, and were not coronaviruses.

The University of Manitoba, with which Qiu and Cheng were affiliated, has ended their non-salaried appointments and re-assigned the students working with them, a spokesperson told the Canadian Press.

The RCMP did not comment on the current whereabouts of Qiu and Cheng for privacy reasons.

4 posted on 02/08/2020 6:40:27 PM PST by SeekAndFind (look at Michigan, it will)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The Trump impeachment had no basis in fact. That did not stop every Democrat except one from voting the articles out of the House and every Democrat plus one RINO skank from voting to convict in the U.S. Senate.


5 posted on 02/08/2020 6:51:30 PM PST by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind; ConservativeMind

Agree, CM.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Or maybe they are telling the truth.....technically.

Perhaps the one discovered in Wuhan is a DIFFERENT coronavirus. Maybe the one created in Canada and stolen by spies is somewhere else. There’s more than one coronavirus, you know. Dozens of ‘em.

Maybe the whole Canada/Chinese spy thing is a cover story for something worse.


6 posted on 02/08/2020 6:53:55 PM PST by generally ( Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

These “fact checkers” and “fact check” websites are all suspect. Just because the word “fact” or “check” is in the title does not authenticate their veracity. Snopes was highly regarded until it was learned of their leftist bias. Who checks the “fact checkers?”


7 posted on 02/08/2020 7:02:36 PM PST by Fungi
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: generally

the researcher there that just died was a specialist in HIV/AIDS/Ebola.

Perhaps it is a big ole coincidence that some researchers thought there was an HIV connection but then the paper got pulled because they made mistakes....or something....


8 posted on 02/08/2020 7:02:43 PM PST by RummyChick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

nothing to see here, please pay no mind


9 posted on 02/08/2020 7:03:58 PM PST by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Its the Trudeau Administraion, a govenment you can trust!
10 posted on 02/08/2020 7:08:11 PM PST by Bommer (2020 - Vote all incumbent congressmen and senators out! VOTE THE BUMS OUT!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The denials were far too quick on this one.


11 posted on 02/08/2020 7:35:35 PM PST by Crucial
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: generally

“Perhaps the one discovered in Wuhan is a DIFFERENT coronavirus. Maybe the one created in Canada and stolen by spies is somewhere else. There’s more than one coronavirus, you know. Dozens of ‘em.”

They mutate faster than jihadi muslims(SPIT!).


12 posted on 02/08/2020 7:46:58 PM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I am so sick and tired of these media crap that they do over and over again SARS Ebola. It’s always nothing.


13 posted on 02/08/2020 7:47:08 PM PST by proud American in Canada (Still heartbroken over the loss of Neil Peart and Tara, from Buffy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

AfP, the French tass/pravda

They are covering to the fact it is the French who built that level 4 bio lab in China. This virus has no natural evolutionary link. It is an accelerated mutation resulting in an advanced generation compared to the nearest cousin virus

The bat soup has also been ruled out.


14 posted on 02/08/2020 7:56:55 PM PST by JudgemAll (Democrats Fed. job-security in hatse:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucified)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All

but the pangolins ... now we’re talking


15 posted on 02/08/2020 8:06:36 PM PST by Peter ODonnell (Nobody reads this anyway so here's my password: *************)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

16 posted on 02/08/2020 8:11:41 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Mmmmmmmkay.


17 posted on 02/08/2020 8:27:19 PM PST by kaehurowing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I think it’s far more likely that the virus originated in a Comm. Chinese lab and that the state saw the virus as a twofold opportunity:

1. Population reduction in China

2. An unguided weapon against the rest of the world.

China is nothing it it’s not aggressive and they really don’t care who they hurt but obviously hope to damage the U.S. and/or Russia.

My 2 cents worth.


18 posted on 02/08/2020 8:35:25 PM PST by Rembrandt (-a sure sign a Dem is lying - his lips are moving.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
The older I get, the more conspiracy theories irritate me.

There is the misrepresentation of the source material and official statements, without any real effort to understand them. This is what the AFB article explains.

One of my issues with conspiracy theories is how the conspiracy is supposed to work is a series of assumptions that are rarely fully explained. If those assumptions were explained, then the conspiracy falls apart. The risk and chance of failure are so high no one would attempt it.

The title is "Corona virus developed in Canada and stolen by China?" by Eeyore. This is an accusation posed as a question, which the author does not try to answer. It is true that Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and several students were removed from her job at Canada's BSL-4 lab, and that is worth noting right now. The title implies that she stole the Coronavirus which caused the current epidemic.

I'm going to spell out how the conspiracy that Eeyore does not:

1. Dr. Qui smuggled infectious material out of the lab, without being detected.
2. No one at the lab noticed material or a experiment was missing.
3. Somehow it got to Wuhan from Canada without getting found or (4) accidentally released.
5. Somehow it was released in Wuhan, when precautions were taken to get it to Wuhan.
6. There was a reason to get Coronavirus samples from Canada, when there are two BSL-4 labs in Wuhan.

Which makes this pretty far fetched.

19 posted on 02/08/2020 8:38:12 PM PST by Widget Jr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fungi

Completely agree.

Snopes is a fact checker too. Just sauin’


20 posted on 02/08/2020 9:22:26 PM PST by HollyB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson