Beijing is now censoring Chinese scientists’ papers on the coronavirus, squelching research that exposes the Communist Party’s brutal bungling as COVID-19 grew into a pandemic.

Fudan University and the China University of Geoscience in Wuhan had to delete online notices of forthcoming papers thanks to the crackdown, which requires preclearance by the central government.

The Ministry of Education directive is crystal-clear: “Academic papers about tracing the origin of the virus must be strictly and tightly managed.”

Why? “I think it is a coordinated effort from [the] Chinese government to control [the] narrative, and paint it as if the outbreak did not originate in China,” one Chinese researcher told CNN. “And I don’t think they will really tolerate any objective study to investigate the origination of this disease.”

Right: That would expose the devastating impact of the government’s suppression of news of the virus in the crucial early days, and its faking of data that misled the world’s experts about the scope of the coming threat.

In the first stage of censorship, universities’ academic committees must vet all other papers that touch on the coronavirus, including for political issues such as whether the “timing for publishing” is right, CNN reported. Anything that clears that hurdle goes to the central Education Ministry — which will run each paper by a task force of the State Council.

Plainly, any research that contradicts the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda will prove “ill-timed,” and so get squelched.

Maddening: A host of issues about the virus remain uncertain, including its fundamental infectiousness and modes of propagation. Scientists worldwide need all the data they can get to help policymakers figure out how to safely end or reduce the global lockdowns.

Beijing doesn’t care: Covering for the regime counts for far more than any obligations to the global community.