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China Allegedly Destroyed Evidence of Wuhan Coronavirus in December; How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic; Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery

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By Legal Insurrection. My daily update must start with the revelation by an independent, investigative journalism team at Caixin Global.

The team discovered that Chinese scientists destroyed proof of research involving the novel coronavirus that is now spreading at pandemic levels.

An article published by the Times of London indicates that Chinese authorities have been deleting the stories from the internet.

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

(Read more from “Report: China Destroyed Evidence of Wuhan Coronavirus in December” HERE)

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How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic

By Fox News. A cover-up and clampdown by the Chinese government in the early weeks of the coronavirus’s emergence is raising questions over whether the communist superpower can be held legally accountable.

“Generally countries like China have sovereign immunity and governments cannot be brought to regular courts or held liable regardless of their conduct,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israel-based attorney who has long specialized in suing terrorist regimes and state sponsors who orchestrate human rights abuses on behalf of victims, told Fox News.

“However, an argument could be made that just like support for terrorism, which is legally actionable, a government that engages in such reckless disregard and negligence and covers up an epidemic which has the potential to spread worldwide could be held legally liable ,” Darshan-Leitner said. “Cover-ups and deliberate acts to conceal a deadly medical crisis are not [among] the protected acts of a sovereign state or of responsible leaders.”

According to Darshan-Leitner, if a private party like a hospital or health care worker of a chemical company had learned of a dangerous and highly contagious disease and then deliberately covered its existence up and concealed it from the public they would clearly face criminal and civil liability.

“Why should a local or national government be any different? Clearly, China signed treaties and had a duty under international law to report the virus and not cover it up,” she continued. “China is not to blame for creating the virus but for not sounding the international alarm and trying to conceal it from the world.” (Read more from “How China Can Be Held Legally Accountable for Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery From the Coronavirus Outbreak

By The Blaze. . .Those reports are being disputed by local Chinese officials who say the government is using deceptive measures to create the appearance of normal business operations and productivity, according to the Chinese media outlet Caixin.

Back to normal? For the first time since the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, was discovered, China has reported no new infections. For the past couple of days, the number of new reported deaths has been in the single digits.

As a result, some of the businesses in China that were forced to shut down have begun reopening, and some travel restrictions have been lifted (although that is creating some new issues, including a fear of imported COVID-19 cases).

Not what it seems: Although the Chinese government, well-known for concealing or manipulating information, would obviously prefer the world seeing signs of strength and recovery, that might not be the case. Chinese whistleblowers tell Caixin they’re working to create an appearance that things are back to normal when they’re not[.] (Read more from “Report Claims China Is Faking Its Recovery From the Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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WATCH: Dr. Fauci Credits President Trump’s China Travel Ban — Opposed by Joe Biden — With Preventing Italy’s Disaster in U.S.

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By The Blaze. When President Donald Trump announced travel restrictions on China to prevent travelers from infecting Americans with the coronavirus, former Vice President Joe Biden blasted the decision as “hysterical xenophobia” at a campaign rally.

But now one of the country’s leading experts on the illness, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says the president’s travel restriction likely prevented a humanitarian crisis in the United States on the scale of the one that Italy is facing. . .

During an interview on MSNBC, anchor Lester Holt asked the world-renowned immunologist if there were demographic differences between the United States and Italy, which is now considered the hardest hit nation by the pandemic, which may result in different outcomes for the two countries.

Without hesitating, Fauci credited President Trump’s Jan. 31 executive order suspending travel from China, where the virus originated, with preventing an Italian-level crisis in America.

(Read more from “WATCH: Dr. Fauci Credits President Trump’s China Travel Ban — Opposed by Joe Biden — With Preventing Italy’s Disaster in U.S.” HERE)

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Democracy 2020 Digest: Biden, Blasting Trump, Vows Dueling Daily Briefing During Coronavirus Crisis

By Fox News. Former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday slammed President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, urging the Republican incumbent to “stop swerving between overpromising, buck-passing, and start delivering protection to our people.”

The all-but-certain Democratic presidential nominee – in a conference call with political reporters – also said that as early as Monday he hopes to be holding near-daily briefings regarding the pandemic that’s swept across the nation, which could serve as a political counterbalance to the daily briefings the president and government officials have been giving the past week from the White House.

“I want to be in daily or least in significant contact with the American people and communicate what I would be doing, what I think we should be doing, and how we should be doing it,” Biden emphasized.

“Hopefully by Monday we’re going to be in a very different place in terms of the ability to be in communications with all of you,” Biden explained.

The president’s reelection team – responding to Biden – defended the president’s actions, with campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh saying that Trump “is leading an unprecedented mobilization of America against the coronavirus and all Joe Biden can offer is ineffective partisan sniping from the sidelines.” (Read more from “Democracy 2020 Digest: Biden, Blasting Trump, Vows Dueling Daily Briefing During Coronavirus Crisis” HERE)

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Graham, Admin Officials Pushing for More Visas From China

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George Orwell’s books are boring compared to the perfidious irony inherent in our government’s response to the China virus.

At a time when we need to shut off all immigration to deal with the concerns of Americans, Jared Kushner and Sen. Lindsey Graham are pushing for more immigration.

At a time when Americans are going to be desperate for every job available, these same players are pushing for more visas for foreign workers.

At a time when we need to engage in social distancing and decoupling from China, the source of this outbreak, they are pushing for a 650 percent increase in visas that will enable Chinese nationals not only to get green cards, but to own more of our land and businesses through “investor visas.”

A 650% increase in Chinese “investor visas”

EB-5 visas were created by Congress in 1990 with the intention of drawing entrepreneurs to America. The idea sounded nice on paper. It offered 10,000 green cards a year to those who invested at least $500,000 in America, creating at least 10 jobs. Yet, in reality, tethering a green card to wealthy, well-connected foreign donors with ties to their home governments has created corruption and cronyism for one particular country.

EB-5 benefits Chinese interests and parochial interests of big-city real estate moguls in America … like Jared Kushner. A business colleague of Kushner’s has even been charged in an EB-5 fraud lawsuit. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an EB-5-related probe into the Kushner family real estate firm.

The Chinese government has gamed out the system and has monopolized these visas the same way India has monopolized H-1B visas. This is a double whammy. It allows China to insert more agents into our country and also continue to buy up more of our land and businesses, making us even more dependent on China at a time when we are trying to curb its influence. As former Rep. John Bryant, D-Texas, once said on the House floor, “Have we no self-respect as a nation? Are we so broke we have to sell our birthright?”

Even the Washington Post called for ending this program. In 2014, Canada terminated a similar visa program, noting that it “undervalued Canadian permanent residence” and offered “little evidence that immigrant investors as a class are maintaining ties to Canada or making a positive economic contribution to the country.”

One would think that given the threat of spreading disease, trade theft, espionage, and losing our sovereignty and ownership to China, we would immediately suspend immigration and visas from China or at least make modest cuts and reforms. Yet Politico is reporting that the Trump administration and Sen. Lindsey Graham are advocating to increase the EB-5 cap from 10,000 to 75,000 and lower the investment threshold to $450,000 from the current level of $900,000. They want to use the next “rescue” bill to push this.

Three Senate staffers and one administration source told CR that Kushner is the driving force behind the push for EB-5. However, one source expressed confidence that it would not be added to the bill due to long-standing opposition from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Pat Leahy, D-Vt.

Expanding Chinese investor visas in a China virus relief bill is the equivalent of the idea of building a mosque at ground zero.

More H-2 visas when Americans will be looking for work in droves?

After expanding H-2 low-skilled visas to record levels, the DHS has no plans to reverse course, despite the impending job losses for Americans. DHS Secretary Chad Wolf announced a 35,000 expansion of H-2B visas on March 5. Meanwhile, the farm lobby is pressuring the State Department to approve more applications for H-2A agricultural workers. It wouldn’t be surprising if they secure a provision for this in one of the coming emergency bills frantically passing without substantive debate.

With a figure no less powerful than Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin himself predicting up to 20 percent unemployment, why in the world would we bring in more foreign workers? Not to mention the logistical problem with increased travel during a time of quarantine. Now that we will suffer the collapse of an economic nuclear winter, why not rebuild our economy with American labor and American goods on American soil? Have pandemics not taught us the lessons of hyper-globalization?

Refugees and illegal aliens will continue as we are all quarantined

As I reported earlier this week, both refugee resettlement and asylum requests at our border have continued unabated throughout the months of this epidemic and even after the national quarantine on Americans began. Yesterday, the U.N. finally announced a shutdown of resettlement, and the Trump administration announced it would begin turning back illegal aliens at the border. End of story, right?

Well, there’s always more to the story.

“Due to the temporary suspension, we notified our implementing partners to expect a refugee arrivals pause from March 19 through April 6,” said a spokesperson for the State Department in response to a query from CR. “We will work with our implementing partners to plan for a resumption of refugee arrivals on or after April 7.”

Thus, at a time when we are being told that schools, churches, and workplaces might be shut for months – and indeed, some states have already shut public schools and colleges for the remainder of the school year – they are working to restart refugee resettlement in just two weeks? Aside from the logistical and health care concerns, why would we bring in more refugees at a time when our own people are languishing to the point that we might still have “shelter in place” orders in early April?

Meanwhile, at the border, while Trump announced his intention to turn back all illegal migrants, that policy is not yet in place. At the same time, the cartels are taking advantage of the chaos and smuggling more people and God knows what else.

Aside from the numerous existing reasons to slow down immigration across the board, just from a standpoint of labor and logistics, it is time for Congress to call for a one-year suspension of all new long-term worker visas, student visas, and immigrant visas. We need the jobs for Americans, and we need to regain control of our own destiny as a nation. Hyper-globalization failed us and has caused the worst crash of our society in our lifetime. The answer for policymakers is not to double down on all the elements that crowned China the global king and put us at its mercy.

President Trump must not just call this crisis the Chinese virus; he must treat it as such too. (For more from the author of “Graham, Admin Officials Pushing for More Visas From China” please click HERE)

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China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December; GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Spread Because of Culture; Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China Faces Criminal Charges After Lying About Symptoms; Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus’

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By Townhall. The Chinese are to blame for this Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Their containment methods were laughable, their officials refused to inform the public, and people died. They allowed Wuhan to celebrate Chinese New Year, exposing potentially tens of thousands to the disease. Some five million left the city before they enacted a quarantine. And now we’re hearing that they knew about human transmissions. The Wall Street Journal’s piece on how this whole international fiasco began all but places the blame where it should rightfully be directed: China . . .

And now, there are reports that Chinese scientists destroyed evidence about the virus back in December (via The Times UK):

Chinese laboratories identified a mystery virus as a highly infectious new pathogen by late December last year, but they were ordered to stop tests, destroy samples and suppress the news, a Chinese media outlet has revealed.

A regional health official in Wuhan, centre of the outbreak, demanded the destruction of the lab samples that established the cause of unexplained viral pneumonia on January 1. China did not acknowledge there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

The detailed revelations by Caixin Global, a respected independent publication, provide the clearest evidence yet of the scale of the cover-up in the crucial early weeks when the opportunity was lost to control the outbreak. Censors have been rapidly deleting the report from the Chinese internet.

(Read more from “China Lied and People Died: Chinese Scientists Destroyed Coronavirus Evidence in December” HERE)

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GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs’

By USA Today. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, drew a backlash on social media and from Asian American advocates on Wednesday for claiming China was “to blame” for the spread of the coronavirus because of a “culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that.”

‘These viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people and that’s why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine flu, and now the coronavirus, so I think they have a fundamental problem, the Texas Republican said to reporters, saying he did not object to a geographic name for the virus.

Asked about Asian Americans’ concerns about racism, Cornyn said, “I disagree. We’re not talking about Asians. We’re talking about China, where these viruses emanate from and created this pandemic.” . . .

The CDC says the coronavirus has its origins in bats and might have jumped to humans through a “wet market,” or a live animal market in Wuhan, China.

Swine flu was first detected in the United States in 2009, and MERS was first identified in Jordan in 2012, according to the CDC. The CDC says the first cases of SARS were reported in China’s Guangdong province in 2002. (Read more from “GOP Senator Says China ‘to Blame’ for Coronavirus Spread Because of ‘Culture Where People Eat Bats and Snakes and Dogs'” HERE)

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Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges

By Los Angeles Times. A woman who flew last week from Massachusetts to Los Angeles — then to Beijing, where she tested positive for coronavirus — is under investigation on allegations of concealing her symptoms and putting fellow travelers at risk of infection.

The woman took fever-reducing medication before boarding a plane and lied to flight attendants, according to Beijing’s disease control center and an Air China representative, who held a news conference on Monday.

The woman, who was hospitalized and is receiving treatment, is under investigation for the crime of “impeding prevention of infectious diseases.” According to Chinese law, she could face up to three years of imprisonment or detention with possible forced labor, or up to seven years of prison if there are “serious consequences.”

As the pandemic worsens around the world but slows in China, authorities in Beijing are tightening controls. All passengers arriving in Beijing from abroad, including Chinese nationals, are required to quarantine in government centers for 14 days. (Read more from “Woman Who Flew From U.S. to China for Coronavirus Test Faces Criminal Charges” HERE)

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Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu’

By Fox News. President Trump on Wednesday continued to call COVID-19, the “China virus,” and said he doesn’t think labeling the novel coronavirus is racist or puts Asian-Americans at risk.

“No, not at all,” Trump said during the noon press conference. “I think they probably would agree with it, 100 percent. It comes from China.”

Trump has been under pressure from China as well as some Democrats to stop using the term “China virus” or “Wuhan virus.” They believe the term stigmatizes China and borders on being racist. But instead if stopping, Trump has upped his use. . .

In the bizarre exchange, Trump asked Alcindor to repeat the phrase “Kung-Flu” and asked her directly which White House official had used the term. She said she did not get a name.

Earlier in the day, White House advisor Kellyanne Conway took a more combative tone with reporters and though she said using the phrase “Kung-Flu” was wrong, she refused to engage in a “hypothetical” and demanded to know who in the White House had the exchange with Jiang. (Read more from “Trump Doubles Down on ‘China Virus,’ Demands to Know Who in White House Used Phrase ‘Kung Flu'” HERE)

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Trump Administration Hits Back After China Kicks out U.S. Journalists Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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China on Tuesday escalated its tit-for-tat propaganda war with the United States over who’s to blame for the spread of the coronavirus by placing restrictive measures on several top media companies including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, prompting strong opposition from the Trump administration.

It’s just the latest move by Beijing to punish the U.S. for its reporting on the global pandemic, the origin of which has been traced back to Wuhan, China.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s decision to expel journalists from China and Hong Kong is yet another step toward depriving the Chinese people and the world of access to true information about China,” the National Security Council tweeted. “The United States calls on China’s leaders to refocus their efforts from expelling journalists and spreading disinformation to joining all nations in stopping the Wuhan coronavirus.”

In a statement, China claimed the new restrictions on U.S. reporters were a retaliation against the Trump administration for putting caps on the number of journalists from five Chinese state-run media outlets working in the United States last month.

A spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the U.S. of “purposely making things difficult” for Chinese reporters and subjecting them to “growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression.” (Read more from “Trump Administration Hits Back After China Kicks out U.S. Journalists Amid Coronavirus Pandemic” HERE)

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China Complains Its Image Is ‘Seriously Tarnished’ by American Journalists and Is Retaliating Against Them; Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak

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By Business Insider. China announced it would take “reciprocal countermeasures” against American journalists working in the country in yet another escalation of tensions between the two countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday released a statement ordering American journalists working for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post to return their media credentials — effectively disallowing them from reporting the news in China and Hong Kong.

The ministry claimed its decision to further regulate US journalists was predicated on the US’s actions against its own journalists, which included “slashing the staff size of Chinese media outlets in the US, which is expulsion in all but name.”

“In recent years, the US government has placed unwarranted restrictions on Chinese media agencies and personnel in the US, purposely made things difficult for their normal reporting assignments, and subjected them to growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression,” the ministry said in its statement.

Chinese media companies, which are heavily regulated and censored by the government, have several bureaus working in the US. In February, the Trump administration designated five of those state-run organizations as “foreign embassies,” which requires them to register their assets with the US State Department. (Read more from “China Complains Its Image Is ‘Seriously Tarnished’ by American Journalists and Is Retaliating Against Them” HERE)

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China Announces Expulsion of U.S. Journalists

By TIME. The Chinese government moved Tuesday to strip credentials from American reporters working for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, in a tit-for-tat exchange with the U.S. that has escalated in recent weeks. Beijing also demanded those outlets, as well as TIME and Voice of America, hand over details about personnel and operations.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed Americans working for the three U.S. newspapers whose credentials expire at the end of the year to turn in their press passes within 10 days. Those reporters would then be barred from reporting inside China, as well as in China’s semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The ministry also demanded information “in written form” about staff, operations, finances and real estate of the five American news organizations, including TIME, in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The Chinese government said that the move to send reporters out of the country was taken in response to the U.S. not allowing more Chinese nationals working for state-run media to work in the U.S. On March 2, the Trump administration put a cap on the number of Chinese nationals allowed to be employed by five Chinese state-run news outlets operating inside the U.S. That action by the U.S. followed China’s decision to expel three reporters from the Wall Street Journal following the publication of an opinion article critical of the Chinese government. China’s “measures are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the U.S.,” the ministry wrote in a statement. (Read more from “China Announces Expulsion of U.S. Journalists” HERE)

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Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak

By WIO News. Coronavirus has imposed a worldwide curfew, the most popular sites lie deserted. There are more than 1,80,000 confirmed cases and over 7000 have died. . .

They’re sparing no effort to deflect blame for the outbreak. China wants the world to believe that the coronavirus did not originate there.

Chinese diplomats are aggressively pushing conspiracy theories to spread that coronavirus originated in the United States of America (USA). They claim there’s evidence that the virus was not made in China. And they are doing so mainly to shrug off scrutiny. . .

However, the truth is China tried to hide the outbreak. There is no doubt that the Chinese people were the worst sufferers of this outbreak, but the Chinese state deserves no sympathy, let alone praise.

China’s new narrative on the coronavirus is designed for both the domestic and the international audience. It makes the communist party look strong at home. Ideally, China should help smaller countries, ramp-up efforts to contain the disease. (Read more from “Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to End Dependency on China’s Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions, one Republican lawmaker is seeking to decrease America’s dependence on China.

Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Sunday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) explained that she has introduced legislation to increase America’s pharmaceutical production to decrease dependency on China.

“It is the SAM-C Bill, Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet,” Blackburn said. “Many of the pharmaceuticals that are necessary for creating some of these viruses — and certainly the coronavirus family is one of those — they’re made only in China.”

“We are depended upon them for these. They’re called APIs: active pharmaceutical ingredients,” she continued. “My legislation would incentivize bringing that production back on U.S. shores.” (Read more from “GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to End Dependency on China’s Pharmaceutical Manufacturing” HERE)

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Wuhan Doctors Say Colleagues Died in Vain Amid Official Cover-Up; Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus (VIDEO)

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By The Straits Time. The hospital where coronavirus whistle-blower Li Wenliang worked and died has been hit harder than any other by Covid-19 due in part to throttling of information by officials, a Caixin investigation has found.

The Central Hospital of Wuhan, where Dr Li died, has seen over 230 of its 4,000 medical staff diagnosed with Covid-19, the highest rate of infection at any hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, according to data Caixin has obtained.

On Monday, ophthalmologist Zhu Heping was the fourth doctor at the hospital to succumb to the disease, following the deaths of doctors Li Wenliang, Jiang Xueqing and Mei Zhongming on Feb 7, March 1 and March 3, respectively. . .

A Central Hospital department head blamed authorities for endangering lives by spreading false information.

“The false information released by the relevant departments – claiming the disease was controllable and would not spread from human-to-human – left hundreds of doctors and nurses in the dark, doing all they could to treat patients without knowing about the epidemic,” the department head told Caixin. (Read more from “Wuhan Doctors Say Colleagues Died in Vain Amid Official Cover-Up” HERE)

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Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus

By NBC News. Chinese officials have sidestepped questions about whether Beijing blames Washington for the coronavirus outbreak after a foreign ministry spokesman suggested it could have been planted by the U.S. Army.

“When did patient zero begin in U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” Zhao Lijian tweeted in both Chinese and English on Thursday. “Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!”

His post was accompanied by a video of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that some Americans who had seemingly died from influenza later tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Zhao, who was based at the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan before moving to the foreign ministry in February, is a prolific social media user; a hashtag referring to his posts was trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Friday with more than 89,000 mentions. He is known for being outspoken and for his sometimes outrageous comments.

(Read more from “Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus” HERE)

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Despicable Chinese Cover-Up Started in December, More Evidence Coronavirus is an Escaped Bioweapon

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By New York Post. Chinese scientists knew about the coronavirus and its deadly effects as early as December — but were ordered by government officials to suppress the evidence, according to a report.

In late December, several genomics companies tested samples from sick patients in Wuhan — the center of the coronavirus outbreak — and noticed alarming similarities between their illnesses and the 2002 SARS virus, the Sunday Times of London reported, citing Chinese business news site Caixin Global.

The researchers alerted Beijing of their findings — and on Jan. 3, received a gag order from China’s National Health Commission, with instructions to destroy the samples.

Rather than hunkering down to contain the virus, Wuhan officials went ahead with their annual potluck dinner for 40,000 families. (Read more from “Despicable Chinese Cover-Up Started in December, More Evidence Coronavirus Is an Escaped Bioweapon” HERE)

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Coronavirus Taking a Toll on Chinese Restaurants in New York

By New York Post. Even the Big Apple’s most beloved Chinese restaurants are in critical condition as the coronavirus keeps customers at bay.

Restaurant owners, the people who work for them and city lawmakers say business at Chinese-owned establishments has plummeted by as much as 60 percent as the global pandemic spreads. Some restaurants in Queens have closed, possibly for good, sources said.

“It’s been terrible for business,” said Thomas Lo, a co-owner of Spy C Cuisine of Forest Hills, Queens, which opened in 2018 and garnered a coveted spot in this year’s Michelin Guide. “We’ve had a steady increase in business since we opened, and then coronavirus hit,” said Lo, who is an anesthesiologist by day and a chef by night.

“None of our food comes from China, but that doesn’t matter to diners. I don’t know what motivated the scare. A lot of it is misinformation,” said Lo, who says business at Spy C is down more than 50 percent from a month ago. (Read more from “Coronavirus Taking a Toll on Chinese Restaurants in New York” HERE)

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U.S. Places New Restrictions on Chinese Journalists

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In a briefing to reporters on Monday, senior Trump administration officials announced a set of restrictions to be placed on Chinese journalists operating in the United States.

Why it matters: The unprecedented restrictions are aimed at upholding “reciprocity” in U.S.-China relations amid a deteriorating media environment in China, the officials said.

Details: U.S. administration officials said that two types of restrictions will be put into place in the coming weeks.

The administration will place a duration of stay on all Chinese nationals who are in the United States on I visas, the visa type given to foreign media workers. They will be eligible to request extensions when their visas expire.

The five Chinese state-run media outlets that were recently designated by the State Department as “foreign missions” will now face a limit on the total number of Chinese nationals working for them in the United States at any given time.

(Read more from “U.S. Places New Restrictions on Chinese Journalists” HERE)

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