Chinese honor guards maintain Swiss and Chinese flags at the Swiss president’s go to to Beijing in 2019. MADOKA IKEGAMI/POOL/AFP by way of Getty Image
Chinese state media printed a number of tales claiming the US meddled with the WHO’s investigations into the origins of COVID-19.
The media stories had been based mostly off Facebook posts made by an account attributed to a Wilson Edwards, who Chinese media said was a Swiss biologist.
The Swiss embassy said it has no information of a Swiss citizen underneath that identify.
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Chinese state media shops have taken down their articles quoting a Swiss biologist’s claims that the US meddled in the World Health Organization’s [WHO] coronavirus investigations, after the Swiss embassy in Beijing said the biologist likely doesn’t exist.
The media stories had been based mostly off a Facebook put up from an account linked to a Wilson Edwards, who Chinese media said was a biologist. Edwards’ profile, which has since been deleted, said he grew up in and lives in Bern, Switzerland, in response to screenshots the BBC’s Edward Lawrence shared on Twitter.
Edwards posted on Facebook in July that the US had exerted “enormous pressure and even intimidation” on researchers investigating the origins of the coronavirus, in response to The Guardian.
“The WHO sources told me the US is so obsessed with attacking China on the origin-tracing issue that it is reluctant to open its eyes to the data and findings,” Edwards wrote on Facebook, per The Guardian.
Multiple state media shops in China printed articles citing Edwards’ feedback. “US attempts to overturn report, leveraging WHO into political tool,” learn the headline of People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. The Global Times, a tabloid recognized to mirror the opinions of celebration officers, ran a piece with the headline, “COVID-19 origin tracing: Claim emerges of ‘intimidation’ from the US.”
On Tuesday, the Swiss mission in China tweeted its doubts that Wilson Edwards was actual.
“Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged biologist, cited in press and social media in China over the last several days. If you exist, we would like to meet you!” the embassy tweeted.
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In its tweet, the Swiss mission said it has no report of a Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards and no proof of educational articles in biology cited underneath his identify. It said Edwards’ Facebook account was created on the similar day as the accusatory put up, and that Edwards’ account solely had three Facebook mates. Facebook didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s request for touch upon the origins and authenticity of the Wilson Edwards Facebook account.
The embassy referred to as on Chinese media and netizens to take down social media posts quoting Edwards.
“The Swiss Embassy in China published this tweet to draw attention to the fact that the person mentioned is not Swiss,” a Swiss embassy spokesperson instructed Insider in an electronic mail. “The Embassy posted this wording after it became apparent that the Chinese press and social networks were reporting what was falsely presented as the work of a Swiss biologist. “
On Wednesday, People’s Daily and The Global Times eliminated their articles. The Chinese mission in Switzerland, The Global Times, and People’s Daily didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s requests for remark.
In a tweet on Tuesday, the BBC’s Edward Lawrence said Edwards’ Facebook profile image was a picture of the University of Oxford’s Radcliffe Science Library taken from a journey weblog.
China has been staving off theories from different nations that the coronavirus might need originated from a lab leak in Wuhan. It has denied these claims and has in flip pushed its personal theories about the virus beginning elsewhere.
A WHO investigation report in January said it was “extremely unlikely” the virus got here from a lab leak, however the debate gained traction once more after a US intelligence report obtained by The Wall Street Journal said employees there had fallen sick a month earlier than the virus was found. In May, President Joe Biden ordered a new 90-day probe by US intelligence into the virus’ origins.
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