One of the most truly insidious ideas ever. Artificially engineer a natural virus into a much more dangerous form. A form which never occurred in nature. Seems like "gain of function" is just a PC term for "bio weapon".
(What country has tens of millions of spare citizens it would not mind losing, especially "excess" males who have no female counterparts, as a result of the "one-child policy?" What country has a history of murdering its own people by the tens of millions?)