China’s propaganda pandemic in an expanding timeline, November 2019-April 2020

Click here for Part Two of the timeline starting May 2020

Latest update: May 30, 2020, 19:43 Washington DC time.

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All official Chinese government propaganda is the official voice of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By following the propaganda lines with regime actions in chronological order, we can trace how the Xi Jinping regime responded to the coronavirus outbreak and weaponized it to attack the United States and divide its leaders.

We can then push back against Chinese propaganda, break through the regime’s disinformation and censorship inside China and here at home, and devise ways to hold the Communist Party responsible for the pandemic.

The following timeline by Dr J Michael Waller, our Senior Analyst for Strategy, is updated daily.

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Jump to: November 2019, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020, March 2020, April 2020

Stage 1: Repression & coverup

November 17, 2019

Patient Zero. Official Chinese government sources say the first case of coronavirus emerges on November 17, but is not recognized at the time. The unidentified victim is to become known as “Patient Zero.”

December 26

Wuhan virus detected with 87% similarity to SARS. A medical lab received samples from Wuhan hospitals “and reached a stunning conclusion as early as the morning of Dec. 26. The samples contained a new corona virus with an 87 percent similarity to SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome.” This account will be revealed late in January 2020 by multiple unauthorized Chinese sources.

December 27

Lab executives urgently brief Wuhan health officials. A day after discovering the new corona virus, “lab executives held urgent meetings to brief Wuhan health officials and hospital management,” according to a lab technician.

Officials order labs to suppress scientific findings. Chinese genomics scientists sequence the virus and discover a resemblance to SARS, but Chinese regime officials order them to surrender or destroy the virus samples. The regime suppresses the scientific findings. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) censors delete the news report of the destruction, revealed by Caixin Global, from the Chinese internet.

December 30

Dr Li warns other physicians. Dr. Li Wenliang, a 34 year-old ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, warns other physicians about the virus on WeChat, and advises them to wear protective gear. (Dr. Li will be forced to sign a “confession” renouncing his statement, and will then die. A colleague, Dr Ai Fen, director of emergency at Wuhan Central Hospital, will later denounce authorities publicly on March 10 and disappear by March 16.)

Shi Zhangli, a top Wuhan Institute of Virology scientist, suspects lab leak. The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China’s only P4 lab certified to handle coronaviruses, summons one of his top scientists with the report of the spread of SARS-like new coronavirus in the city. The scientist, Shi Zhangli, is known is “Bat Woman” for her research on coronaviruses carried by bats and transmitted to humans. Highlights from a late February interview in Scientific American:

Shi summoned after first hospital reports . “The mysterious patient samples arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology at 7 P.M. on December 30, 2019. Moments later Shi Zhengli’s cell phone rang. It was her boss, the institute’s director. The Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention had detected a novel coronavirus in two hospital patients with atypical pneumonia, and it wanted Shi’s renowned laboratory to investigate.”

. “The mysterious patient samples arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology at 7 P.M. on December 30, 2019. Moments later Shi Zhengli’s cell phone rang. It was her boss, the institute’s director. The Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention had detected a novel coronavirus in two hospital patients with atypical pneumonia, and it wanted Shi’s renowned laboratory to investigate.” New deadly pathogen feared . “If the finding was confirmed, the new pathogen could pose a serious public health threat—because it belonged to the same family of viruses as the one that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a disease that plagued 8,100 people and killed nearly 800 of them between 2002 and 2003.”

. “If the finding was confirmed, the new pathogen could pose a serious public health threat—because it belonged to the same family of viruses as the one that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a disease that plagued 8,100 people and killed nearly 800 of them between 2002 and 2003.” Director: Come back from Shanghai and handle the crisis . “‘Drop whatever you are doing and deal with it now,’ she recalls the director saying.”

. “‘Drop whatever you are doing and deal with it now,’ she recalls the director saying.” Shi never thought such a virus could spread in Wuhan, central China . “Shi, a virologist who is often called China’s ‘bat woman’ by her colleagues because of her virus-hunting expeditions in bat caves over the past 16 years, walked out of the conference she was attending in Shanghai and hopped on the next train back to Wuhan. ‘I wondered if [the municipal health authority] got it wrong,’ she says. ‘I had never expected this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China.'”

. “Shi, a virologist who is often called China’s ‘bat woman’ by her colleagues because of her virus-hunting expeditions in bat caves over the past 16 years, walked out of the conference she was attending in Shanghai and hopped on the next train back to Wuhan. ‘I wondered if [the municipal health authority] got it wrong,’ she says. ‘I had never expected this kind of thing to happen in Wuhan, in central China.'” Shi wonders if the virus escaped from her lab. “Her studies had shown that the southern, subtropical provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan have the greatest risk of coronaviruses jumping to humans from animals—particularly bats, a known reservoir. If coronaviruses were the culprit, she remembers thinking, ‘Could they have come from our lab?'”

First official reports emerge of outbreak. Wuhan authorities confirm 27 cases of a mysterious viral pneumonia.

December 31

Chinese authorities notify WHO. Chinese government officials inform the World Health Organization (WHO) of the coronavirus, and say that the disease is associated with the Wuhan Hunan Wholesale Seafood Market. The warning discounts human-to-human transmission. [Note: This December 31 warning will become the basis for China’s subsequent insistence that it was “transparent” from the beginning.]

WHO sends Beijing questions & offers assistance. Security services repress information. “WHO officials sent Beijing a list of questions about the outbreak and offered assistance,” the Washington Post reports in a reconstruction. “While scientists and public health experts scrambled to collect more information, China’s security services tried to smother it.”

Taiwan warns Beijing and WHO about human-to-human transmission. The government of Taiwan notifies Chinese health officials and WHO about its detection of a SARS-like virus outbreak in Wuhan, and warns of human-to-human transmission. WHO does not inform member nations about the report on its internal website.

Taiwan starts screening visitors from Wuhan. Taiwanese authorities begin screening visitors arriving from Wuhan.

Late December 2019 – Early January 2020

Authorities report no new infections or deaths. “. . . in Wuhan, local cadres were focused on a days-long Communist Party conclave that was scheduled to run from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17. During that time, the Wuhan Health Commission each day claimed there were no new infections or deaths,” the Washington Post‘s Gerry Shih, Emily Rauhala, and Lena H. Sun would later report from Beijing. (They would later be banned for their reporting.)

January 1, 2020

Back to top

Doctors are investigated and punished. Chinese state media report that eight people in Wuhan are investigated for spreading “misinformation” about the virus and “exaggerating” the seriousness of the outbreak. Wuhan officials say they punished eight people for “publishing or forwarding false information on the internet without verification.” All eight people are physicians.

Dr Li is accused of spreading false stories. Other reports later confirm that the eight included Dr. Li, who were accused of “spreading rumors.”

Regime warns others not to spread doctors’ warnings. “The police followed up in the state-run Xinhua gency with a chilling warning. ‘The police call on all netizens to not fabricate rumors, not spread rumors, not believe rumors,’ the Wuhan authorities said, adding that they encouraged Web users to ‘jointly build a harmonious, clear and bright cyberspace,'” the Washington Post reports from Beijing.

Lab ordered to stop testing and to destroy samples. Official at the Hubei Provincial Health Commission orders a laboratory to stop testing samples of the new virus from Wuhan, to destroy all existing samples, and “to immediately cease releasing test results and information about the tests.”

Early January

Hashtag censorship. CCP officials censor the hashtag #WuhanSARS and investigate eight Wuhan residents who spread “misleading information” about the virus on social media.

January 3

Dr Li is forced to sign a confession that he made false statements. Dr. Li Wenliang, who had warned fellow physicians at the Wuhan Central Hospital about the virus, is brought before the Public Security Bureau and forced to sign a letter that accused him of “making false statements” that “severely disturbed the social order.”

The Public Security Bureau warns Dr. Li in the letter he is forced to sign, “We solemnly warn you: If you keep being stubborn, with such impertinence, and continue this illegal activity, you will be brought to justice – is that understood?” Dr. Li writes underneath, “Yes, I do.”

Chinese government health leaders issue orders for censorship and forensic destruction. China’s National Health Commission, a cabinet-level institution in Beijing and the regime’s top health organization, “ordered institutions not to publish any information” relating to the Wuhan virus, and “ordered labs to transfer any samples they had to designated testing institutions, or to destroy them.”

Chinese regime rejects US offers of immediate assistance. The Chinese central government officially rejects US government offers to send medical assistance to China.

Foreign Ministry in Beijing creates false narrative starting on this date. January 3 becomes a date on which the Chinese government starts the narrative that it was open with the US quickly, as of that date. Later, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying will criticize US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus, in the following Twitter exchange:

PRC: “China has been updating the US on the coronavirus and its response since Jan. 3. On Jan. 15 the US State Department notified Americans in China US CDC’s warning about the coronavirus. And now blame China for delay? Seriously?”

“China has been updating the US on the coronavirus and its response since Jan. 3. On Jan. 15 the US State Department notified Americans in China US CDC’s warning about the coronavirus. And now blame China for delay? Seriously?” USA: “By Jan. 3, Chinese authorities had already ordered #COVID19 virus samples destroyed, silenced Wuhan doctors, and censored public concerns online. @SpokespersonCHN is right: This is a timeline the world must absolutely scrutinize.”

January 4

US and Chinese health officials speak on phone. The head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speaks on the phone with his Chinese analogue.

January 7

Xi Jinping makes secret speech to party bosses. Party leader Xi Jinping gives a secret speech to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in China, to instructing the CCP to get the coronavirus under control. This marks the beginning of Xi trying to make himself look like the heroic fighter against the disease, but Xi will say nothing of the virus until January 20. [Observation: It appears that Xi is remaining in hiding until he can be sure that he can build a positive public image.]

Curbing the outbreak not at top of Xi’s agenda. “… curbing the spread was not at the top of the agenda when Xi and other members of the party’s upper echelon sat down for a Politburo meeting on January 7. Citing its source, the broadsheet [Ming Pao of Hong Kong] said top leaders were opposed to any contingency measures ‘that may mar the festive vibe and make the public panic,'” the Asia Times will later report.

January 8

Infection information is suppressed. Regime officials in Wuhan suppress information that medical workers in the city had been exposed to the virus by patients they were treating, and that they, too, had become infected.

US CDC issues alert for patients who had been to Wuhan. The Centers for Disease Control in Washington issues an alert for clinicians “to be on the look-out for patients with respiratory symptoms and a history of travel to Wuhan, China.”

January 9

CCP TV calls it ‘Wuhan virus.’ China Central TV, a government-run channel, reports that a strain of the coronavirus that CCTV calls “Wuhan virus” has broken out in the city of Wuhan. This is the first record we have yet collected with the “Wuhan virus” label. [Note: As this chronology will show, the term is permissible until the Chinese Communist Party says otherwise.]

CNN calls it ‘Wuhan pneumonia.’ A CNN article identifies the disease as “Wuhan pneumonia,” citing CCTV.

Agence France-Presse calls it ‘Wuhan pneumonia.’ The man-in-the-street AFP video of Hong Kong residents shows a Hong Kong man calling the virus a “Chinese disease.”

January 11

Health center publishes genome sequence. The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center publishes the first genome sequence of the coronavirus, enabling scientists everywhere to develop test kits. (Some accounts say January 9)

US Centers for Disease Control update a travel health notice from Wuhan. “On January 11, 2020, CDC updated a Level 1 Travel Health Notice (“practice usual precautions”) for travelers to Wuhan City and an updated Health Alert to health care professionals and public health partners with new and updated guidance is forthcoming,” CDC says in a news release.

January 12

Health center publishing genome sequence is shut down. The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center is suddenly shut down. No reason is offered. The coronavirus genome sequencing team has no place to work.

January 13

First reported case outside China. Thailand reports the first known Wuhan Virus case outside China. This forces the CCP leadership to recognize “the possible pandemic before them,” AP will later report, citing internal documents. Highlights:

CCP waited until Thailand case before finding cases . “It was only then that they [CCP leaders] launched a nationwide plan to find cases — distributing CDC-sanctioned test kits, easing the criteria for confirming cases and ordering health officials to screen patients.”

. “It was only then that they [CCP leaders] launched a nationwide plan to find cases — distributing CDC-sanctioned test kits, easing the criteria for confirming cases and ordering health officials to screen patients.” CCP waited until January 13 to instruct Hubei officials to act . “They also instructed officials in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to begin temperature checks at transportation hubs and cut down on large public gatherings.”

. “They also instructed officials in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to begin temperature checks at transportation hubs and cut down on large public gatherings.” CCP withheld the information from public. “And they did it all without telling the public.”

January 14

Hong Kong journalists arrested in Wuhan. Hong Kong reporters trying to video the situation at Wuhan Central Hospital are arrested and taken away by police.

Chinese officials are aware of the pandemic, documents show. The Associated Press will later report that on January 14, “top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus.” Beijing will keep the determination secret until January 20.

China’s top health official secretly warn leadership; Xi Jinping issues secret instructions. Internal Chinese government documents later obtained by the Associated Press “show that the head of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, laid out a grim assessment of the situation on Jan. 14 in a confidential teleconference with provincial health officials.” Highlights of AP article, reported April 16:

Xi Jinping knows by January 14 . “A memo states that the teleconference was held to convey instructions on the coronavirus from President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, but does not specify what those instructions were.”

. “A memo states that the teleconference was held to convey instructions on the coronavirus from President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, but does not specify what those instructions were.” ‘Likely to develop into a major public health event.’ “‘The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,’ the memo cites Ma as saying.”

“‘The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,’ the memo cites Ma as saying.” Health authorities warn of virus spreading during Lunar New Year travel . “The National Health Commission is the top medical agency in the country. In a faxed statement, the Commission said it had organized the teleconference because of the case reported in Thailand and the possibility of the virus spreading during New Year travel.”

. “The National Health Commission is the top medical agency in the country. In a faxed statement, the Commission said it had organized the teleconference because of the case reported in Thailand and the possibility of the virus spreading during New Year travel.” Internal document cites transparency and responsibility . “It added that China had published information on the outbreak in an ‘open, transparent, responsible and timely manner,’ in accordance with ‘important instructions’ repeatedly issued by President Xi.” [Note: This seems either to be a normal propaganda line among CCP officials so they can pretend how responsible they are, or a manufactured propaganda line intended for foreign audiences to show Xi’s leadership. This is a warning that the document could be ex post facto disinformation to defend Xi’s stature and reinforce propaganda after the fact. It is too soon to tell.]

. “It added that China had published information on the outbreak in an ‘open, transparent, responsible and timely manner,’ in accordance with ‘important instructions’ repeatedly issued by President Xi.” [Note: This seems either to be a normal propaganda line among CCP officials so they can pretend how responsible they are, or a manufactured propaganda line intended for foreign audiences to show Xi’s leadership. This is a warning that the document could be ex post facto disinformation to defend Xi’s stature and reinforce propaganda after the fact. It is too soon to tell.] Unusual sourcing of documents leaked to AP . “The documents come from an anonymous source in the medical field who did not want to be named for fear of retribution. The AP confirmed the contents with two other sources in public health familiar with the teleconference. Some of the memo’s contents also appeared in a public notice about the teleconference, stripped of key details and published in February.” [Note: This type of leak, the surreptitious passing of one document that is confirmed by two others familiar with a secret teleconference, is normal in free societies but very unusual for China. We should treat this with caution.]

. “The documents come from an anonymous source in the medical field who did not want to be named for fear of retribution. The AP confirmed the contents with two other sources in public health familiar with the teleconference. Some of the memo’s contents also appeared in a public notice about the teleconference, stripped of key details and published in February.” [Note: This type of leak, the surreptitious passing of one document that is confirmed by two others familiar with a secret teleconference, is normal in free societies but very unusual for China. We should treat this with caution.] ‘Human-to-human transmission is possible.’ “Under a section titled ‘sober understanding of the situation,’ the memo said that ‘clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible.’ It singled out the case in Thailand, saying that the situation had ‘changed significantly’ because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.”

“Under a section titled ‘sober understanding of the situation,’ the memo said that ‘clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible.’ It singled out the case in Thailand, saying that the situation had ‘changed significantly’ because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.” Major travel season means ‘risk of transmission and spread is high.’ “‘With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high,’ the memo continued. ‘All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic.'”

“‘With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high,’ the memo continued. ‘All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic.'” Health chief: Unity around Xi Jinping more important than public safety . “In the memo, [National Health Commission chief] Ma demanded officials unite around Xi and made clear that political considerations and social stability were key priorities during the long lead-up to China’s two biggest political meetings of the year in March. While the documents do not spell out why Chinese leaders waited six days to make their concerns public, the meetings may be one reason.”

. “In the memo, [National Health Commission chief] Ma demanded officials unite around Xi and made clear that political considerations and social stability were key priorities during the long lead-up to China’s two biggest political meetings of the year in March. While the documents do not spell out why Chinese leaders waited six days to make their concerns public, the meetings may be one reason.” Secret 63-page set of instructions distributed . “The National Health Commission also distributed a 63-page set of instructions to provincial health officials, obtained by the AP. The instructions ordered health officials nationwide to identify suspected cases, hospitals to open fever clinics, and doctors and nurses to don protective gear. They were marked ‘internal’ — ‘not to be spread on the internet,’ ‘not to be publicly disclosed.'”

. “The National Health Commission also distributed a 63-page set of instructions to provincial health officials, obtained by the AP. The instructions ordered health officials nationwide to identify suspected cases, hospitals to open fever clinics, and doctors and nurses to don protective gear. They were marked ‘internal’ — ‘not to be spread on the internet,’ ‘not to be publicly disclosed.'” Officials downplay threat in public. “In public, however, officials continued to downplay the threat, pointing to the 41 cases public at the time.”

WHO repeats Chinese party line that there’s no evidence of human-to-human transmission. World Health Organization sends out message – without questioning the credibility of the source, that “Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China.”

WHO ignores Taiwan’s December 31 warning.

January 15

Virus spreads to US by carrier from Wuhan. Chinese government’s failure to respond promptly permits Wuhan virus carriers to travel worldwide. First virus carrier arrives in United States from Wuhan and undergoes treatment in Washington state, which becomes site of the greatest concentration of Wuhan Virus deaths in the US.

Chinese CDC emergency chief: ‘sustained human-to-human transmission is low.’ “‘We have reached the latest understanding that the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low,’ Li Qun, the head of the China CDC’s emergency center, told Chinese state television on Jan. 15. That was the same day Li was appointed leader of a group preparing emergency plans for the level one response, a CDC notice shows,” according to a later AP report.

Chinese vice premier signs trade deal at White House. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is at the White House to sign Phase One of a trade deal with President Donald Trump.

January 16

Wuhan officials say health crisis is over, and encourage large public gatherings. Wuhan residents go to a government sponsored fair, citing government statements that the health crisis is over.

Chinese officials encouraged hundreds of millions of people to travel over previous month. Mid-December 2019 to mid-January 2020 “was a time when Chinese officials were beginning to grasp the threat of a new contagious disease in Wuhan but did little to inform the public — even with the approach of the Lunar New Year holiday for which hundreds of millions of Chinese travel,” the Washington Post would report.

January 17

US starts implementing airport health entry screening for virus ‘exported’ from Wuhan. The Centers for Disease Control announces implementation of “enhanced health screenings to detect ill travelers traveling to the United States on direct or connecting flights from Wuhan, China. This activity is in response to an outbreak in China caused by a novel (new) coronavirus (2019 nCoV), with exported cases to Thailand and Japan.”

“Based on current information, the risk form 2019-nCoV to the American public is currently deemed to be low. Nevertheless, CDC is taking proactive preparedness precautions.”

January 18

Wuhan Health Commission announces 4 new infections. “Still, officials downplayed the risk of human-to-human transmission.”

Wuhan allows 40,000-family dinner without advising of danger. Local Wuhan jurisdiction has its annual Lunar New Year banquet, with 40,000 families attending, without advising the public about the contagion. Local officials “distributed hundreds of thousands of tickets to local attractions.”

“Everything was down to not collecting cases, not letting the public know,” said Dali Yang, a prominent scholar of China’s governance system at the University of Chicago. “They were still pushing ahead, wanting to keep up appearances.”

January 19

Wuhan health chief downplays the danger. Li Gang, director of Wuhan’s disease control center, says on video that “infectivity of this coronavirus is not high” and “the disease is preventable and controllable.”

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Stage 2: From hiding leader to heroic leader

The “repression and coverup” theme of Stage 1 continues throughout China’s official virus propaganda effort. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership now shows that the health crisis threatens Party legitimacy and control. Xi Jinping emerges in a planned, dramatic fashion to hand down the Party line.

January 20

Public reality forces Communist Party leadership to react. “On Jan. 20, as more than 400 million Chinese people prepared to travel home to mark the Lunar New Year, the mood shifted. For the first time that morning, Wuhan public health officials changed the wording of their daily statements to omit their previous references to ‘limited human-to-human transmission,'” the Washington Post will report:

“Later that day, renowned pulmonologist Zhong Nanshan, an 83-year old and veteran of the SARS crisis who is considered a national hero, appeared on state media to announce the virus was in fact transmissible between people.”

“Beijing finally seemed to react.”

In a major shift in policy, Communist Party leader Xi Jinping makes the first public comment about the virus. Xinhua issues statement to show Xi as a bold, decisive leader: “President Xi Jinping has ordered resolute efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that caused cases of pneumonia.”

Xi is promoted with all his party and military ranks . “Instructing on the work related to the pneumonia situation, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China [CCP] Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed putting people’s safety and health as the top priority,” Xinhua says.

. “Instructing on the work related to the pneumonia situation, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China [CCP] Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed putting people’s safety and health as the top priority,” Xinhua says. Xi makes first public statement on crisis at 7 pm . “The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan and other places must be taken seriously,” Xi Jinping says in his first public statement on the crisis, broadcast on CCTV at 7 pm local time.

. “The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan and other places must be taken seriously,” Xi Jinping says in his first public statement on the crisis, broadcast on CCTV at 7 pm local time. Xi: Communist Party is in charge. “Party committees, governments and relevant departments at all levels should put people’s lives and health first,” Xi says.

Top CCP epidemiologist says for first time that virus is transmitted human-to-human. “The head of a Chinese government expert team [says] . . . that human-to-human transmission has been confirmed in an outbreak of a new coronavirus, a development that raises the possibility that it could spread more quickly and widely,” AP reports.

CCP leadership knew about the danger for 6 days but were silent. Chinese Communist Party officials were aware of the pandemic danger since January 14 but remained silent, the Associated Press will later report on April 16, citing internal documents. Highlights:

Not the CCP’s first mistake . “That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.”

. “That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.” CCP’s 6-day delay ‘set the stage’ for pandemic . “But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and taken more than 133,000 lives.”

. “But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected more than 2 million people and taken more than 133,000 lives.” ‘We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.’ “‘This is tremendous,’ said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.'”

“‘This is tremendous,’ said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.'” The CCP leaders’ 6-day delay followed a nearly two-week delay . “[T]he six-day delay by China’s leaders in Beijing came on top of almost two weeks during which the national Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that time, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in Wuhan but across the country.”

. “[T]he six-day delay by China’s leaders in Beijing came on top of almost two weeks during which the national Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that time, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in Wuhan but across the country.” CCP’s ‘rigid controls’ prevented reporting. “[W]hat is clear, experts say, is that China’s rigid controls on information, bureaucratic hurdles and a reluctance to send bad news up the chain of command muffled early warnings. The punishment of eight doctors for ‘rumor-mongering,’ broadcast on national television on Jan. 2, sent a chill through the city’s hospitals.”

Singapore news channel calls it ‘Wuhan virus.’ CNA-TV has the video report, citing Xi Jinping’s first public comment.

Countries start screening incoming passengers from China. “At least a half-dozen countries in Asia and three US airports have started screening incoming airline passengers from central China” and Canada announces initial steps, AP reports.

Massive wave of coordinated Twitter disinformation detected, some blaming US for virus. A study by the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, responsible for fighting propaganda, will find 2 million tweets between January 20 and February 10 that peddle conspiracy theories and disinformation about the virus. Some of the tweets are coordinated, suggesting a planned campaign. Themes include allegations that the deadly virus was manufactured in the United States.

Massive Chinese ‘state-sponsored’ hacking operation begins. The largest detected state sponsored Chinese hacking operation begins against “75 organizations ranging in nearly every economic sector: telecommunications, healthcare, government, defense, finance, petrochemical, manufacturing, and transportation. The campaign, believed to be run by APT41, targeted nonprofit, legal, real estate, travel, education, and media organizations as well,” a cyber industry news service reports. “This activity is one of the most widespread campaigns we have seen from China-nexus espionage actors in recent years,” researchers say. The hacking operation will continue until March 11.

January 21

First official Chinese Communist Party mention of virus. Chinese Communist Party’s official authoritative newspaper, People’s Daily, mentions the Wuhan virus for the first time. The official Party-authorized propaganda campaign begins.

Party tightens cadre discipline & calls for transparency from all CCP members. CCP’s “law and order body” promises harsh punishment for not being transparent. The Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission tells CCP officials that the new Party line is total transparency:

“Anyone who puts the face of politicians before the interests of the people will be the sinner of a millennium to the party and the people.”

“Anyone who deliberately delays and hides the reporting of [virus] cases out of his or her own self-interest will be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity.

CCP shifts blame from Xi & Party Center to Wuhan authorities. The editor of Global Times, part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) official People’s Daily, deflects blame from the central apparat and lays blame on local Wuhan municipal officials for being too slow. The editor, Hu Xijin, questions whether Wuhan officials would have been willing to accept human-to-human transmission as a possibility were it not for a leading Beijing-based, CCP-authorized respiratory disease specialist.

Wuhan officials were conditioned to await orders from Xi Jinping. Chinese analysts from Beijing to London agree that Wuhan officials were conditioned to await orders from Xi Jinping before proceeding on anything controversial, the South China Morning Post reports.

Wu Qiang, says that Wuhan officials’ slow response was likely due to waiting for orders from Beijing, or what the South China Morning Post paraphrases as “an ingrained culture among Communist Party cadres who were not prepared to act on their own.”

“All these campaigns that have been launched one after another since Xi Jinping came to power seven years ago have robbed cadres of the motivation to take the initiative and they have become accustomed to hiding behind the shadow of the strong man,” Wu says.

Wu “added that Beijing’s control over free speech and intellectuals also created a stifled environment discouraging experts to speak out during a public health crisis,” according to SCMP.

“Steve Tsang, director of the China Institute at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, said local officials were apprehensive about taking sensible preventive measures without knowing what Xi and other top leaders wanted as they feared that any missteps would have serious political consequences.”

“‘Who would dare to take on this responsibility without knowing whatever action to be taken would enjoy Xi’s blessings? So, I can’t say I was surprised by the basically passive responses until Xi came out ordering a robust response,’ Tsang said.”

Tsang “said the problem was not a specific Chinese cultural issue but a systemic problem commonly seen in countries where ‘power is concentrated in the hands of one top leader who is punitive to those who make mistakes.'”

“All important and sensitive issues will have to be decided by the top leader,” Tsang said.

CCP outlet calls it ‘Wuhan pneumonia.’ As if following the party directive to blame Wuhan officials, the CCP’s English-language Global Times defines the disease as “Wuhan pneumonia” in the headline and text of an article.

Second time: Another article in the Global Times says that “Wuhan pneumonia” will disrupt international capital markets. The report also calls the disease “Wuhan novel pneumonia.”

CNN calls it ‘Chinese coronavirus.’ CNN tweets out an article about what it calls “a new Chinese coronavirus” that began in Wuhan, China. The tweet links to a story from the day before which uses the same terminology. After a CCP propaganda campaign to stomp out the term, CNN will stop using it.

Centers for Disease Control confirms first US case of virus. The CDC issues a statement confirming the first case of the new virus in the United States, and locates Wuhan, China, as the origin. The CDC says:

“The patient recently returned from Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of pneumonia caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. While originally thought to be spreading from animal-to-person, there are growing indications that limited person-to-person spread is happening. It’s unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people.”

“The patient from Washington with confirmed 2019-nCoV infection returned to the United States from Wuhan on January 15, 2020. The patient sought care at a medical facility in the state of Washington, where the patient was treated for the illness.”

First coronavirus victim in US is confirmed. The first coronavirus patient in the United States is confirmed. The Centers for Disease Control reports, “The patient recently returned from Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of pneumonia caused by this novel coronavirus has been ongoing since December 2019. While originally thought to be spreading from animal-to-person, there are growing indications that limited person-to-person spread is happening. It’s unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people.”

CDC says it believes that the risk to American public is ‘low at this time.’ The Centers for Disease Control issues a statement that “the confirmation that some limited person-to-person spread with this virus is occurring in Asia raises the level of concern about this virus, but CDC continues to believe the risk of 2019-nCoV to the American public at large remains low at this time.”

January 22

CCP outlet calls it ‘Wuhan pneumonia.’ The Chinese Communist Party’s English-language Global Times calls the virus “Wuhan pneumonia” for the second day in a row.

Chinese Communist Party outlet calls it ‘Wuhan coronavirus.’ Another article in the Global Times calls the disease “Wuhan coronavirus.”

Xinhua refers to virus as ‘Wuhan virus.’ In a report on moving an Olympic sporting venue from Wuhan to Nanjing, Xinhua headlines the article, “Wuhan virus sees Olympic football qualifiers moved.”

Xinhua changes headline as party line changes . Weeks later, Xinhua changes the headline and article text to remove “Wuhan virus” references and replace them with WHO-designted “2019-nCoV virus” references. The Xinhua headline at the same link reads, “Olympic football qualifiers moved from Wuhan to Nanjing.

. Weeks later, Xinhua changes the headline and article text to remove “Wuhan virus” references and replace them with WHO-designted “2019-nCoV virus” references. The Xinhua headline at the same link reads, “Olympic football qualifiers moved from Wuhan to Nanjing. Same date and time stamp. The date and time stamp – “2020-01-22 20:41:39” – are identical in both versions.

Xi projects decisive image after seven weeks of dithering. Two days after Xi Jinping starts his personal decisive action campaign, central CCP authorities order an immediate quarantine of Wuhan, shutting off all train and aircraft travel. About 100,000 people leave Wuhan by train between the issuance of the order and the quarantine deadline.

Hong Kong reports first ‘highly suspicious’ case. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam tells CNN, “We have the first case of highly suspicious infection from Hong Kong from a passenger from Wuhan or fromWuhan via another city coming to Hong Kong.”

January 23

World Health Organization holds off declaring public emergency. “On [January 23], after delaying for an extra day of deliberation, the World Health Organization decided not to declare the outbreak of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus to be a PHEIC – a public health emergency of international concern,” the Washington Post says in a guest analysis. Key points:

Surprising decision . “The WHO’s decision has surprised many global health experts, particularly after the urgency of and severity of China’s internal response.” [This leads to questions about whether WHO was awaiting instructions from Beijing, given Xi’s new line.]

. “The WHO’s decision has surprised many global health experts, particularly after the urgency of and severity of China’s internal response.” [This leads to questions about whether WHO was awaiting instructions from Beijing, given Xi’s new line.] ‘Role of politics’ in WHO process . “The WHO announcement raises critical questions about how the organization makes its decisions – and, in particular, the role of politics in that process.”

. “The WHO announcement raises critical questions about how the organization makes its decisions – and, in particular, the role of politics in that process.” ‘Unavoidably political.’ “In theory, the WHO is supposed to be a nonpolitical body. . . . Politics is always involved. The decision to declare a PHIEC is unavoidably political, even if framed otherwise.”

“In theory, the WHO is supposed to be a nonpolitical body. . . . Politics is always involved. The decision to declare a PHIEC is unavoidably political, even if framed otherwise.” ‘WHO is a political organization.’ “Like it or not, the WHO is a political organization as well as a scientific one.”

In Xi Jinping’s first public dramatic action, authorities implement Wuhan quarantine. Xi orders a quarantine of Wuhan, a city of 11 million, and 12 other cities in Hubei province, “encompassing a population bigger than that of New York, London, Paris and Moscow combined.”

Chinese government stops flights out of Wuhan. More than three weeks after learning about the virus and three days after Xi Jinping made the personal go-ahead, the Chinese government stops all land, water, and air transport out of Wuhan and cancels international flights out of Wuhan.

CDC reports that Chinese government delays allowed virus to spread widely. The CCP’s delay allowed the virus to spread widely. The US Centers for Disease Control will report (written after the WHO formally named the virus COVID-19):

‘Several billion trips’ within China . “At the time of the quarantine, China was already 2 weeks into the 40-day Spring Festival, during which residents and visitors make several billion trips throughout China to celebrate the Lunar New Year.”

. “At the time of the quarantine, China was already 2 weeks into the 40-day Spring Festival, during which residents and visitors make several billion trips throughout China to celebrate the Lunar New Year.” Timing . “Considering the timing of exported COVID-2019 cases reported outside of China, we estimate that only 8.95% (95% credibility interval [CrI] 2.22%–28.72%) of persons infected in Wuhan by January 12 might have had COVID-19 confirmed by January 22.”

. “Considering the timing of exported COVID-2019 cases reported outside of China, we estimate that only 8.95% (95% credibility interval [CrI] 2.22%–28.72%) of persons infected in Wuhan by January 12 might have had COVID-19 confirmed by January 22.” Infectious and undetected . “By limiting our estimate to infections occurring ≥10 days before the quarantine, we account for an ≈5–6-day incubation period and 4–5 days between symptom onset and case detection (Appendix) (2–4,6). The low detection rate coupled with an average lag of 10 days between infection and detection (7) suggest that newly infected persons who traveled out of Wuhan just before the quarantine might have remained infectious and undetected in dozens of cities in China for days to weeks . Moreover, these silent importations already might have seeded sustained outbreaks that were not immediately apparent.” [Emphasis added]

. “By limiting our estimate to infections occurring ≥10 days before the quarantine, we account for an ≈5–6-day incubation period and 4–5 days between symptom onset and case detection (Appendix) (2–4,6). . Moreover, these silent importations already might have seeded sustained outbreaks that were not immediately apparent.” [Emphasis added] Travel ‘seeded cases far beyond’ Wuhan quarantine . “Our risk assessment identified several cities throughout China likely to be harboring yet undetected cases of COVID-19 a week after the quarantine, suggesting that early 2020 ground and rail travel seeded cases far beyond the Wuhan region under quarantine.”

. “Our risk assessment identified several cities throughout China likely to be harboring yet undetected cases of COVID-19 a week after the quarantine, suggesting that early 2020 ground and rail travel seeded cases far beyond the Wuhan region under quarantine.” Tells Senators that all US cases were brought into country from China. CDC says, “all of the confirmed cases are people who recently traveled from China, meaning there is no known transmission of the virus inside the United States,” The Hill reports.

Chinese government pledges transparency. “Recalling the government’s initial cover-up of SARS, many Chinese are suspicious of the case numbers reported by officials. Authorities have promised transparency,” the Associated Press reports. “China’s cabinet, the State Council, announced it will be collecting information on government departments that have failed in their response to the outbreak, including ‘delays, concealment and under-reporting of the epidemic.'”

CNN calls it ‘Wuhan Coronavirus.’ CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta calls the disease “Wuhan Coronavirus.” By March, he will criticize people for using a geographic term.

Top US medical expert says risk is small & that all 5 patients came from China. Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says on an American Medical Association podcast that the risk to the US of the coronavirus is small, and that all five patients in the US had traveled here from China. Fauci expresses hope that the Chinese government will contain the virus before it goes global.

Fauci says SARS/MERS corona viruses don’t spread like flu, cites WHO as authority. Fauci says SARS and MERS coronaviruses do not spread person-to-person like the flu, and “maybe never will.”

Fauci: China wasn’t transparent with SARS. Now it is. “I was involved very deeply with the SARS response. And with SARS, the Chinese were not particularly transparent,” Fauci says. “It was an embarrassment for them. I think they regretted that. Right now, from what I can see, they’re being quite transparent.”

Decisive action in China does not begin until after January 23. “China’s national authorities acted decisively after Jan. 23” (meaning that they waited until Xi Jinping gave his personal instructions), the Washington Post will later report.

January 24

Still no human-to-human transmission outside China, according to WHO. Science News: “No human-to-human transmission has yet been reported outside of China, the WHO said.”

Chinese government bans ‘group travel’ within China but allows travel to foreign countries. Beijing bans “group travel” within China but still permits travel abroad. “But in a blunder that would have far reaching consequences, China did not issue an order suspending group travel to foreign countries until three days later, on Jan. 27,” Japan’s Nikkei reports.

Massive Wuhan hospital to be built in 10 days. The Chinese Communist Party and state start a highly publicized construction of a massive, 1000-bed emergency hospital for Wuhan, showing Xi’s bold leadership. The hospital, modeled after the Xiaotangshan Hospital constructed during the 2002-03 SARS epidemic, is to be constructed within 10 days. The hospital is opened on February 3.

Trump takes statesmanlike stance, shows solidarity with China & thanks Xi Jinping. President Trump tweets effusive support: “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

Senior US senator doesn’t trust China, calls on Trump to declare health emergency. Senator Rick Scott of Florida calls on President Trump to declare a public health emergency. “We have to get serious about the threat of coronavirus coming from China,” Scott says. “I don’t trust Communist China to coordinate in a transparent and efficient manner when it comes to combatting the threat of the virus, so we have to do everything we can to protect Americans.” He adds, “While all of the cases are still travel-related, we must take every precaution.”

January 25

Second massive Wuhan hospital to be built in 10 days. Authorities announce construction second 1,000-bed hospital to be built in Wuhan and made operational within two weeks. The hospital receives its first patients on February 6.

Taking credit: Xi Jinping tells top Party officials to run local operations. Xi Jinping chairs a meeting of the Standing Council of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee to prepare the central party apparat to run anti-coronavirus operations on the ground in Wuhan and supervise local operations. “The meeting demanded all-out efforts to treat infected patients, speed up the augmentation of medical personnel, and coordinate civilian and military medical resources,” according to People’s Daily.

January 26

Virus still has no official name. The Wall Street Journal observes that the Wuhan-origin strain of coronavirus still has no official name.

Central regime urges calm. The chief of China’s cabinet-level National Health Commission holds a news conference to urge calm.

Dr Fauci in US seems to believe China government authorities. US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci says in a radio interview that the American people shouldn’t worry about the coronavirus. “It’s a very, very low risk to the United States,” Fauci says. “But it’s something that we as public health officials need to take very seriously,” he says. “It isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about. Because we have ways of preparing and screening of people coming in [from China]. And we have ways of responding – like we did with this one case in Seattle, Washington, who had traveled to China and brought back the infection.”

January 27

Beijing suspends ‘group travel’ to foreign countries. “China did not issue an order suspending group travel to foreign countries until … Jan. 27,” Japan’s Nikkei reports.

January 28

The FBI arrests Harvard’s chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology as part of a Boston-area Chinese medical technology spy ring. The Harvard professor, Charles Lieber, was paid by Chinese officials as a “‘Strategic Scientist’ at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in China and was a contractual participant in China’s Thousand Talents Plan,” according to the US Justice Department.

January 29

Meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, the head of the World Health Organization praises the Chinese Communist Party leadership for its response to the virus. Building up Xi’s image, the WHO director says, “We appreciate the seriousness with which China is taking this outbreak, especially the commitment from top leadership, and the transparency they have demonstrated. . . .”

Hospital propaganda campaign begins. Chinese officials release time-lapse drone footage Central Propaganda Department supervised drone footage of the massive hospital construction in Wuhan. News organizations worldwide pick up the well-made, fascinating 60-second video.

Trump creates Coronavirus Task Force. President Trump launches a 12-person interagency Coronavirus Task Force led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. US begins evacuation of American citizens from Wuhan.

Low risk of infection seen. “The risk of infection for Americans remains low, and all agencies are working aggressively to monitor this continuously evolving situation and to keep the public informed,” according to a White House statement.

Foreign Policy journal emails subscribers with story of ‘Wuhan coronavirus.’ In an email to subscribers, Foreign Policy, one of the premier left-of-center establishment journals on foreign affairs, sends a story about what it calls the “Wuhan coronavirus.”

Washington Post: China is a geographic area with ‘unique factors’ for ‘incubating infections’ like ‘Wuhan virus.’ Using geographic names to describe disease, the Washington Post explains why China is especially prone to developing new diseases. “Viral outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are not unique to China – the MERS coronavirus came out of the Middle East, and Ebola emerged in Wast Africa. But unique factors facilitate the mixing of animal and human viruses in China, and that leaves China more prone than other countries to incubating infections such as avian and swine flus, along with two of the three novel coronaviruses that can infect humans: SARS and the new Wuhan virus.”

Xi Jinping’s media controls ‘impeded’ information flow. “Media controls, which have tightened under President Xi Jinping, initially impeded the flow of information to the public,” China health policy expert Joan Kaufman writes in the Washington Post. Key points:

Fear of criticism from Communist Party . “China has a long history of underreporting bad news for fear of economic losses, or criticism from Communist Party leaders.”

. “China has a long history of underreporting bad news for fear of economic losses, or criticism from Communist Party leaders.” Wuhan needed ‘permission’ from top . “Authorities closed the Wuhan live market Jan. 1, but the local paper kept the outbreak off the front pages for several more weeks – probably to avoid any panic during a Jan. 7-17 annual meeting in Wuhan for top municipal and provincial officials. Wuhan’s mayor offered to resign over his own delay informing the public, but he noted that he needed to ‘seek permission’ before releasing sensitive information.”

. “Authorities closed the Wuhan live market Jan. 1, but the local paper kept the outbreak off the front pages for several more weeks – probably to avoid any panic during a Jan. 7-17 annual meeting in Wuhan for top municipal and provincial officials. Wuhan’s mayor offered to resign over his own delay informing the public, but he noted that he needed to ‘seek permission’ before releasing sensitive information.” Fear of deviation from ‘current Communist Party line.’ “China’s leadership has reversed course and said anyone hiding coronavirus cases will be ‘forever nailed to history’s pillar of shame’ but the problem is endemic to China’s governance system. Officials at all levels often hesitate to deviate from the current Communist Party line – though the government’s hesitation to publicize the coronavirus threat earlier has prompted widespread outrage on social media.”

British Airways cancels all flights to China. Effective immediately, British Airways announces it is canceling all flights to China. Business Insider headline reads, “British Airways cancels all flights to mainland China as Wuhan coronavirus spreads.”

January 30

Whistleblower Dr Li tests positive for virus. Dr. Li Wenliang, the Wuhan Central Hospital physician who had been taken into custody for warning other doctors about the virus, announces on Weibo that he has tested positive for the disease. “A safer public health environment,” one commentator said, “requires tens of millions of Li Wenliang.”

New York Times calls it ‘Wuhan Coronavirus.’ A feature by Dan Werb is titled, “To Understand the Wuhan Coronavirus, Look to the Epidemic Triangle.” (On revising its line, the New York Times will tweet on March 10 that the term is “racist and xenophobic.”)

Trump states more sympathy for China. Still keeping a supportive position, Trump tells Fox News that China is “working very hard” to fight the virus. “And we are in great shape,” he adds. “China is not in great shape right now, unfortunately. But they’re working very hard. We’ll see what happens. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries.”

Public anger at China spreads worldwide with virus. “The coronavirus outbreak has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe, from shops barring entry to Chinese tourists, online vitriol mocking the country’s exotic meat trade and surprise health checks on foreign workers,” Reuters reports from Jakarta and Hanoi. Anti-China sentiment is strong in Southeast Asia “amid concerns about Beijing’s vast infrastructure spending and political clout in the region and sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea.”

January 31

New York Times publishes what it calls a ‘Wuhan coronavirus map.’ The map, updated regularly, shows in graphic form the spread of the virus. The graphic is titled “Wuhan Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak.” A caption says, “The Wuhan coronavirus has sickened more than 4,500 people in Asia . . . .”

USA Today reporters say ‘ChiComs’ is a ‘slur’ against ‘Chinese communist government.’ In what purports to be a news story about “anti-Chinese sentiment and xenophobia” surrounding the virus, USA Today reporters Marco della Cava and Kristin Lam say that the word “ChiComs” is a “slur referencing the Chinese communist government.” [Note: Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai will link to this article in his February 28 USA Today op-ed.]

WHO declares ‘Public Health Emergency’ over virus. WHO leader “declares” a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the “novel coronavirus.” Director Tedros adds that there is “no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.”

US imposes first entry restrictions. The United States announces restrictions on entry of foreign nationals who had visited the People’s Republic of China within the previous two weeks, and a quarantine of certain returning US citizens. The order states, “Foreign nationals other than immediate family of US citizens and permanent residents who have traveled in China in the last 14 days will be denied entry into United States.” Arrivals from China as of February 2 will be directed to seven major US airports for screening. US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar makes the announcement. The US also announces a 14-day quarantine at a military base of all American citizens being evacuated from Wuhan. The US action follows similar ones from Japan, Singapore, and Australia.

Reaction to US travel restrictions. Responses to the US travel restrictions ranges from supportive or understanding to politicized. Examples of politicization:

NYT: ‘More of an emotional or political reaction.’ New York Times: “At this point, sharply curtailing air travel to and from China is more of an emotional or political reaction, said Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.”

New York Times: “At this point, sharply curtailing air travel to and from China is more of an emotional or political reaction, said Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, an epidemiologist and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.” Presidential candidate Joe Biden: ‘hysterical xenophobia’ and ‘fear mongering.’ At a campaign rally, former vice president Joe Biden denounces Trump for the travel restrictions. Biden is quoted as saying at a campaign rally, “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, to uh, and fear mongering.”

At a campaign rally, former vice president Joe Biden denounces Trump for the travel restrictions. Biden is quoted as saying at a campaign rally, “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, to uh, and fear mongering.” Chinese foreign ministry: US disregards WHO by restricting travel . The Chinese foreign ministry tweets, “In disregard of WHO recommendation against travel restrictions, the US went the opposite way. Where is its empathy?”

. The Chinese foreign ministry tweets, “In disregard of WHO recommendation against travel restrictions, the US went the opposite way. Where is its empathy?” Buzzfeed and Georgetown law professor : “‘This is exactly what WHO warned against,’ said global health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University…. barring foreign travelers from China . . . likely violated civil rights laws, without leading to any real lowered risk of a US outbreak. ‘We are slipping into overconfidence into panic and overreaction,’ said Gostin.”

: “‘This is exactly what WHO warned against,’ said global health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University…. barring foreign travelers from China . . . likely violated civil rights laws, without leading to any real lowered risk of a US outbreak. ‘We are slipping into overconfidence into panic and overreaction,’ said Gostin.” Speaker Pelosi rakes Trump’s travel restrictions as ‘dangerous’ and ‘bigoted.’ In a news release, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounces Trump’s extended travel restrictions as “outrageous, un-American,’ a threat to ‘our security, our values, and the rule of law,’ ‘callous,’ ‘cruel,’ ‘dangerous,’ ‘bigoted,’ hateful, and more. Pelosi’s key points: “The Trump Administration’s expansion of its outrageous, un-American travel ban threatens our security, our values and the rule of law.”” “The sweeping rule, barring more than 350 million individuals from predominantly African nations from traveling to the United States, is discrimination disguised as policy.” “With this latest callous decision, the President has doubled down on his cruelty and further undermined our global leadership, our Constitution and our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants.” “In the Congress and in the Courts, House Democrats will continue to oppose the Administration’s dangerous anti-immigrant agenda. In the coming weeks, the House Judiciary Committee will mark-up and bring to the Floor the NO BAN Act to prohibit religious discrimination in our immigration system and limit the President’s ability to impose such biased and bigoted restrictions. We will never allow hatred or bigotry to define our nation or destroy our values.”

In a news release, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounces Trump’s extended travel restrictions as “outrageous, un-American,’ a threat to ‘our security, our values, and the rule of law,’ ‘callous,’ ‘cruel,’ ‘dangerous,’ ‘bigoted,’ hateful, and more. Pelosi’s key points:

January-February

Chinese foreign ministry tells US stage legislatures not to talk about Taiwan. China’s consul general in New York sends a letter in January, date unspecified, to the speaker of the house of an unspecified US state legislature. Secretary of State Pompeo will raise it in a February speech to governors. Highlights:

Text of Chinese letter to US legislator . The Chinese diplomat’s letter to a US legislature speaker says: “As we all know, Taiwan is part of China… avoid engaging in any official contact with Taiwan, including sending congratulatory messages to the electeds [sic], introducing bills and proclamations for the election, sending officials and representatives to attend the inauguration ceremony, and inviting officials in Taiwan to visit the United States.”

. The Chinese diplomat’s letter to a US legislature speaker says: “As we all know, Taiwan is part of China… avoid engaging in any official contact with Taiwan, including sending congratulatory messages to the electeds [sic], introducing bills and proclamations for the election, sending officials and representatives to attend the inauguration ceremony, and inviting officials in Taiwan to visit the United States.” Pompeo: CCP is in New York telling US officials what not to say. Pompeo says to governors, “Think about that. You had a diplomat from China assigned here to the United States, a representative of the Chinese Communist Party in New York City, sending an official letter urging that an American elected official shouldn’t exercise his right to freedom of speech. Let that sink in for just a minute. And this isn’t a one-off event. It’s happening all across the country.”

Chinese regime instructs front companies to buy up world supply of medical supplies. The CCP instructed Chinese companies worldwide to buy up huge quantities of medical and protective gear from Western countries, often depleting their supplies as the orders are executed during January and February. A regime-backed real estate company, the Greenland Group, “sourced 3 million protective masks, 700,000 hazmat suits and 500,000 pairs of protective gloves from ‘Australia, Canada, Turkey and other countries,” Sydney Morning Herald reports. The operation, which lasted for weeks, hoarded “bulk supplies of surgical masks, thermometers, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitisers, gloves and Panadol for shipping.”

US sells virus protective gear to China in January & February. “US exports of surgical masks, ventilators and other personal protective gear to China skyrocketed in January and February, when the coronavirus was wreaking havoc in the country where it began and as U.S. intelligence agencies warned it would soon spread,” USA Today will report in April. Points:

China buys up US masks & ventilators . “American companies sold more than $17.5 million worth of face masks, more than $13.6 million in surgical garments and more than $27.2 million in ventilators to China during the first two months of the year, far exceeding that of any other similar period in the past decade, according to the most recent foreign trade data available from the US Census Bureau,” the report says.

. “American companies sold more than $17.5 million worth of face masks, more than $13.6 million in surgical garments and more than $27.2 million in ventilators to China during the first two months of the year, far exceeding that of any other similar period in the past decade, according to the most recent foreign trade data available from the US Census Bureau,” the report says. US government DONATES 17 tons of emergency aid . US State Department gives China 17 tons of emergency medical equipment in February, including masks and ventilators.

. US State Department gives China 17 tons of emergency medical equipment in February, including masks and ventilators. No credit sought, none given. The United States seeks no credit. The Chinese government offers none.

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Stage 3: Repression of facts & reinforcement of Xi

February 1

Back to top

Biden reiterates ‘hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering’ allegation. Presidential candidate Joseph Biden reiterates on Twitter what he said at a campaign rally the day before: “We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.”

Balance between repression and censorship, and praise for Xi Jinping. Washington Post notes the contrast between government actions and party propaganda: “Medical professionals who tried to sound an alarm were seized by police. Key state media omitted mention of the outbreak for weeks. Cadres focused on maintaining stability — and praising party leader Xi Jinping — as the crisis worsened.” The New York Times will remove all references to Wuhan on the same graphic by March 10.

WHO issues another coronavirus reassurance. The World Health Organization assures the public that people without symptoms are probably unlikely transmitters of the Wuhan Virus (which WHO calls “2019nCoV”) and applies the geographic term Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) at the same time: “Asymptomatic #2019nCoV infection may be rare, and transmission from an asymptomatic person is very rare with other coronaviruses, as we have seen with MERS. Thus, transmission from asymptomatic cases is likely not a major driver of transmission.”

Washington Post: CCP’s bureaucratic culture is to preserve itself at expense of public safety.

CCP ‘bureaucratic culture’ allowed virus to spread . “China’s handling of the crisis during this time ‘underscores how a bureaucratic culture that prioritizes political stability over all else probably allowed the virus to spread farther and faster,'” the Washington Post reports from Beijing.

. “China’s handling of the crisis during this time ‘underscores how a bureaucratic culture that prioritizes political stability over all else probably allowed the virus to spread farther and faster,'” the Washington Post reports from Beijing. Cadres focus on stability and praise for Xi Jinping as crisis worsened . “Medical professionals who tried to sound an alarm were seized by police. Key state media omitted mention of the outbreak for weeks. Cadres focused on maintaining stability — and praising party leader Xi Jinping — as the crisis worsened.”

. “Medical professionals who tried to sound an alarm were seized by police. Key state media omitted mention of the outbreak for weeks. Cadres focused on maintaining stability — and praising party leader Xi Jinping — as the crisis worsened.” CCP political system under Xi Jinping has regressed. “‘China’s public health system has modernized, but China’s political system hasn’t,’ said Jude Blanchette, head of China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. ‘If anything, there’s been a regression.'”

February 4

Trump urges public to prepare; says US is ‘working closely’ with Chinese government. “Protecting Americans’ health also means fighting infectious diseases,” Trump says in his State of the Union address. “We are coordinating with the Chinese government and working closely together on the coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.”

Chinese foreign ministry rips US for ‘doing nothing to help contain the outbreak.’ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying rips the United States for fanning fears about the virus and accuses the US government of “doing nothing to help contain the outbreak.”

February 5

Chinese diplomat in New York praises National Basketball Association. China’s consul general in New York praises the NBA and private companies for sending aid to stricken Hubei province a day after the Chinese Foreign Ministry blasted the United States government.

New York Times runs op-ed saying it’s safe to travel to China. The New York Times publishes an op-ed by a travel writer who objects to the notion that it is unsafe to travel to China. The piece is headlined, “Who says it’s not safe to travel to China?” (Subsequently, the op-ed does not appear on the writer’s website that contains her list of published works.)

Chinese government urges US and others to abide by WHO policies. The US and other countries should follow WHO guidelines and not impose their own measures, China’s consul general in New York tells reporters. “‘We understand all the measures taken by the US and many other countries. But I think still we should follow the guidance from the WHO and not to issue measures stricter than that or overreact,’ Huang said, referring the World Health Organisation’s opposition to restrictions on travel and trade, despite having declared the outbreak a global emergency,” according to the South China Morning Post.

Chinese people are making a ‘sacrifice’ to help the world. The harsh measures to contain the coronavirus in Wuhan are the Chinese people’s sacrifice help the whole world,” China’s consul general in New York says. “It’s necessary for China to take the most strict and comprehensive measures just to control the spreading, and that’s the urgent thing to prevent disease from transmitting to other countries. So it’s kind of a sacrifice for Chinese people,” Huang says, according to the South China Morning Post.

February 6

Dr. Li dies of the coronavirus.

Regime censors hashtags supportive of Dr Li. The top two trending hashtags on Weibo, where Li had posted his story, were the Chinese characters that said, “Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology” and “We want freedom of speech.” The BBC reports, “Both hashtags were quickly censored. When the BBC searched Weibo on Friday morning, hundreds of thousands of comments had already been wiped.”

Two Chinese scientists post paper saying that virus originated in Wuhan lab. A scholarly paper by Chinese scientists Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao titled, “The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus,” is uploaded to the Researchgate.net website. The scientists note, “The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.”

Authorities send fumigation teams into streets. In what looks like haunting, high-visibility street theater, Chinese authorities send fumigation teams on foot into Wuhan’s empty streets. (Some accounts say the “disinfection” began on February 9)

Barr issues grave warnings about China’s 5G strategic espionage threat. Attorney General Bob Barr gives a Center for Strategic and International Studies speech on China’s 5G threat, and US policies to counter it that predate the coronavirus outbreak. Highlights of Barr’s remarks:

China will be able to shut down other countries . “from a national security standpoint, if the industrial internet becomes dependent on Chinese technology, China would have the ability to shut countries off from technology and equipment upon which their consumers and industry depend.”

. “from a national security standpoint, if the industrial internet becomes dependent on Chinese technology, China would have the ability to shut countries off from technology and equipment upon which their consumers and industry depend.” 5G would ‘surrender’ unprecedented leverage to China regime . “the power the United States has today to use economic sanctions would pale by comparison to the unprecedented economic leverage we would be surrendering into the hands of China.”

. “the power the United States has today to use economic sanctions would pale by comparison to the unprecedented economic leverage we would be surrendering into the hands of China.” ‘Top geopolitical adversary.’ China “has emerged as the United States’s top geopolitical adversary. . . .”

China “has emerged as the United States’s top geopolitical adversary. . . .” China is a ‘dictatorship’ under ‘Communist Party elite.’ China “remains a dictatorship under which the Communist Party elite jealously guard their monopoly on power.”

China “remains a dictatorship under which the Communist Party elite jealously guard their monopoly on power.” China’s damage on US economy: up to $600 billion a year . Barr says that Chinese aggressive espionage inflicts up to $600 billion a year on the American economy.

. Barr says that Chinese aggressive espionage inflicts up to $600 billion a year on the American economy. Previous US administrations went along with it. “In the past, prior administrations and many in the private sector have too often been willing to countenance China’s hardball tactics, and it has been this administration that has finally moved to confront and counteract China’s playbook.”

February 7

CCP propaganda outlets are confused about how to report on Dr. Li’s death. The People’s Daily tweets to foreign audiences that the physician’s passing sparked “national grief.” The Global Times, however, says that he is not dead, but in critical condition and on life support. “Journalists and doctors at the scene, who do not want their names used, told the BBC and other media that government officials had intervened. Official media outlets had been told to change their reports to say that the doctor was still being treated.”

BBC commentator in Beijing says, “The death of Dr Li Wenliang has been a heart-breaking moment for this country. For the Chinese leadership it is an epic political disaster.

“It lays bare the worst aspects of China’s command and control system of governance under Xi Jinping – and the Communist Party would have to be blind not to see it.

“If your response to a dangerous health emergency is for the police to harass a doctor trying to blow the whistle, then your structure is obviously broken.

“The city’s mayor – reaching for excuses – said he needed clearance to release critical information which all Chinese people were entitled to receive.

“Now the spin doctors and censors will try to find a way to convince 1.4 billion people that Dr Li’s death is not a clear example of the limits to the party’s ability to manage an emergency – when openness can save lives, and restricting it can kill.”

President Trump tweets praise for Xi Jinping. “Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!,” Trump tweets amid public marveling at the 10-day construction of the two Wuhan hospitals. Trump’s February 7 Tweets:

“Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp, and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy but…” (0531 Feb 7)

“ ….he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!” ( 0531 Feb 7

Trump makes personal statement supporting China. President Trump continues speaking positively about Chinese authorities as they start to handle the pandemic:

“I just spoke to President Xi last night, and, you know, we’re working on the — the problem, the virus. It’s a — it’s a very tough situation. But I think he’s going to handle it. I think he’s handled it really well. We’re helping wherever we can.”

“But we have a great relationship. It’s incredible. They respect us again. They didn’t even respect us. What they were doing to us — they didn’t even respect us. (Applause.) They respect us again and we respect them.”

“And we think — I think we have the best relationship we’ve had with China. But it’s really incredible.”

US announces $100 million China aid package to combat virus.

February 8

Pompeo warns US governors how China targets them and their states. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns state governors gives an unprecedented speech to the National Governors’ Association about how the CCP targets them, their teams, and their states; and how this affects American national security. Pompeo’s key points:

Pompeo warns of US governors of CCP front activity on state level . “Last year, I received an invitation to an event that promised to be, quote, ‘an occasion for exclusive deal-making.’ It said, quote, ‘the opportunities for mutually beneficial economic development between China and our individual states [are] tremendous,’ end of quote.” ‘Collaboration summit’ targets state governors. “Deal-making sounds like it might have come from President Trump, but the invitation was actually from a former governor. I was being invited to the US-China Governors’ Collaboration Summit. It was an event co-hosted by the National Governors Association and something called the Chinese People’s Association For Friendship and Foreign Countries. Sounds pretty harmless.” Pompeo asks governors if they were approached . “What the invitation did not say is that the group – the group I just mentioned – is the public face of the Chinese Communist Party’s official foreign influence agency, the United Front Work Department. Now, I was lucky. I was familiar with that organization from my time as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. “But it got me thinking. How many of you made the link between that group and Chinese Communist Party officials? “What if you made a new friend while you were at that event? “What if your new friend asked you for introductions to other politically connected and powerful people? “What if your new friend offered to invest big money in your state, perhaps in your pension, in industries sensitive to our national security?” CCP rates American governors . “These aren’t hypotheticals. These scenarios are all too true, and they impact American foreign policy significantly. “Indeed, last year, a Chinese Government-backed think tank in Beijing produced a report that assessed all 50 of America’s governors on their attitudes towards China. They labeled each of you ‘friendly,’ ‘hardline,’ or ‘ambiguous.’ “I’ll let you decide where you think you belong. Someone in China already has. Many of you, indeed, in that report are referenced by name. CCP is targeting each state in America . “So here’s the lesson: The lesson is that competition with China is not just a federal issue. It’s why I wanted to be here today, Governor Hogan. It’s happening in your states with consequences for our foreign policy, for the citizens that reside in your states, and indeed, for each of you.” Your teams have been targeted . “And, in fact, whether you are viewed by the CCP as friendly or hardline, know that it’s working you, know that it’s working the team around you. National security implications . “Competition with China is happening inside of your state, and it affects our capacity to perform America’s vital national security functions.” Xi Jinping is moving China backward . “. . . under Xi Jinping, the country is moving exactly in the opposite direction – more repression, more unfair competition, more predatory economic practices; indeed, a more aggressive military posture as well.” US economic ties with China are good . Pompeo is not being isolationist: “these economic ties are powerful. They’re important and good. They’re good for your state; they’re good for America.” Can’t ignore PRC’s ‘actions and strategic intentions.’ “. . . while there are places we can cooperate, we can’t ignore China’s actions and strategic intentions. If we do, we risk the important components of our relationship that benefit both countries. Beijing has assessed our vulnerabilities at all levels & exploits them . “The Chinese Government has been methodical in the way it’s analyzed our system, our very open system, one that we’re deeply proud of. It’s assessed our vulnerabilities, and it’s decided to exploit our freedoms to gain advantage over us at the federal level, the state level, and the local level. Pompeo is continuing a theme he began in 2019 . “Last year, I announced that I would give a series of speeches on China, and this is part of that. It’s the context in which state and local government officials ought to think about the way they lead with respect to our relationship. It’s important. China matters. It’s been part of my mission at the State Department to mobilize all parts of the United States Government.” China is pressuring state politicians, blackmailing governors & spying on state universities . Pompeo gives examples of how the PRC pressures state elected officials, blackmails governors with threats to pull investments out of their states unless they obey CCP policies, spies on state universities, sends Chinese students to spy at universities, and more. He speaks at length about Confucius Institutes on college campuses. Pompeo’s remarks are very detailed and beyond the scope of this chronology. US wants Chinese students here, as long as they’re not working for CCP . “Make no mistake about it: We want talented, young Chinese students to come study in the United States of America. I see it at Wichita State University. These are wonderful young people. We ought to encourage them to be here. But they shouldn’t have to fear the long arm of Beijing, which often reaches out via groups like the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.” Governors should not allow state pension funds to invest in CCP industries . “I know you all have power over pension funds or the people that run them. As of its latest public filing, the Florida Retirement System is invested in a company that in turn is invested in surveillance gear that the Chinese Communist Party uses to track more than 1 million Muslim minorities. California’s pension fund, the largest public pension fund in the country, is invested in companies that supply the People’s Liberation Army that puts our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines at risk.” Governors can make deals in China, but should work with feds . “There are federal officials prepared to help you work your way through these challenges when they arise. Don’t make separate individual deals and agreements with China that undermine our national policy. I know none of you would do so intentionally. Let us help you make sure we’re getting it right.” Reciprocity with China . “We have directed two Chinese propaganda outlets, the Chinese Global Television Network and Xinhua News Agency, to register as foreign agents. And we at the State Department have started to require Chinese diplomats to apply – comply with the same rules we comply with when we’re in China. Chinese diplomats now must notify the State Department in advance of official meetings with state and local officials. They must declare their official visits to U.S. educational and research institutions as well. This is just fairness, reciprocity, basic common sense. This is not an onerous restriction to put on China.”

. “Last year, I received an invitation to an event that promised to be, quote, ‘an occasion for exclusive deal-making.’ It said, quote, ‘the opportunities for mutually beneficial economic development between China and our individual states [are] tremendous,’ end of quote.”

Pompeo: US sent 18 tons of aid to help China fight outbreak; announced $100 million more. In his same speech to state governors, Pompeo says, “Look at the nearly 18 tons of medical supplies the United States just flew to China this past week to help fight the coronavirus. Yesterday we announced more than $100 million in assistance to China and the countries that are affected by that virus.”

February 10

Trump maintains solidarity with China & Chinese leadership. Trump continues to provide an encouraging voice of solidarity as the CCP works visibly against the outbreak. He tells Fox Business News:

“I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control.”

“I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that’s a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard.”

New US counterintelligence strategy calls Chinese regime a danger. The Trump Administration unveils the new National Counterintelligence Strategy to take a “whole of society” approach to foreign intelligence threats from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, and others. The strategy, in the making for at least two years, calls the Chinese government a particular major threat:

“A more powerful and emboldened China is increasingly asserting itself by stealing our technology and intellectual property in an effort to erode United States economic and military superiority,” President Trump says.

Attorney General Barr indictments of Chinese hackers in the Equifax breach to steal American citizens’ personal information, commenting on “China’s voracious appetite for the personal data of Americans.”

February 11

WHO gives the disease a catchy name. After the Chinese Communist Party stopped calling the virus the “Wuhan coronavirus” and the disease “Wuhan pneumonia,” and diverts any blame from a Chinese origin, the World Health Organization gives the disease a catchy new name: COVID-19. WHO states that it will keep the official name of the virus – severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – intact, but will also refer to the virus as COVID-19 as a vernacular synonym.

February 12

Bloomberg complains that Harvard professor’s arrest will have chilling effect on Chinese research. An essay in Bloomberg-Businessweek says, “by targeting Lieber, the chairman of Harvard’s chemistry department and a veritable ivory tower blue blood, prosecutors struck at the crimson heart of the academic elite, raising fears that globalism, when it comes to doing science with China, is being criminalized.” Other points:

Blame Trump . “The collateral impact, if it deters Chinese students and researchers from coming to the US, threatens the American leadership in science and technology that the Trump administration says it’s trying to protect, academic leaders warn.”

. “The collateral impact, if it deters Chinese students and researchers from coming to the US, threatens the American leadership in science and technology that the Trump administration says it’s trying to protect, academic leaders warn.” Hands off Lieber . “If star scientists such as Lieber are taken down over ties to China, will China’s most brilliant minds, whom US universities and companies rely on increasingly to maintain their technical edge, balk at coming to America?”

. “If star scientists such as Lieber are taken down over ties to China, will China’s most brilliant minds, whom US universities and companies rely on increasingly to maintain their technical edge, balk at coming to America?” Treating it as a felony sends the ‘wrong signal.’ CALTECH President “Rosenbaum and other academic leaders question whether handling such cases with felony charges, rather than through normal administrative procedures at grant-making agencies and schools, sends the wrong signal that the US is cutting research ties with China.”

February 13

WHO leader Tedros defends his praise for Chinese regime and Xi Jinping, and questions his critics.

“The head of the World Health Organisation defended his earlier praise of China’s response to the deadly coronavirus epidemic on Wednesday, questioning critics who disputed President Xi Jinping’s leadership,” the South China Morning Post reported.

At a two-day scientific conference in Geneva to discuss combating the virus, the WHO director praises Xi Jinping’s “political commitment” and “political leadership,” during the crisis and said, “Don’t you appreciate that kind of leadership?”

“Fending off criticism that he made the appreciative remarks just to save China ‘face,’ Tedros insisted that China ‘doesn’t need to be asked to be praised’ for its efforts to contain the spread of the virus,” according to SCMP.

“‘China has done many good things to slow down the virus,’ Tedros says. ‘The whole world can judge. There is no spinning here.'”

According to the SCMP, “Tedros added that his comments were not merely personal, but that they represented the view of the WHO.”

Tedros says that a British board member of WHO lauded Xi’s decision to quarantine Wuhan as “heroic.”

Trump maintains solidarity voice but holds out that CCP is lying. Asked on Fox Business News if he thinks the Chinese leadership is being truthful about the outbreak, Trump replies:

“Well, you never know. I think they want to put the best face on it. So you know, I mean, if somebody — if you were running it, you’d probably — you wouldn’t want to run out to the world and go crazy and start saying whatever it is because you don’t want to create a panic.”

“But, no, I think they’ve handled it professionally and I think they’re extremely capable and I think President Xi is extremely capable and I hope that it’s going to be resolved.”

February 14

Trump again expresses solidarity with China and optimism. Trump tells reporters:

“I spoke with President Xi of China, and he’s working very hard on this. It’s a tremendous problem. But they’re very capable and they’ll — they’ll get to it. There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm — historically, that has been able to kill the virus. So we don’t know yet; we’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner, so that’ll be a great thing in China and other places.”

Two underground journalists disappear along with their websites. The BBC reports that the social media sites of two Chinese citizen journalists in Wuhan have been shut down and that friends fear that the journalists have “disappeared.” The journalists, Fang Bin and Chen Qiushi, used virtual private networks and other means to circumvent CCP censorship. Government censors “re-write history,” said one comment on Weibo social media. “Slowly it will be like [there never was] someone called Chen Qiushi.”

Human Rights Watch: Silencing critics may be greater CCP priority than containing virus. A Human Rights Watch researcher tells the BBC that the CCP is “equally, if not more, concerned with silencing criticism as with containing the spread of the virus.”

Chinese scholarly paper pointing at Wuhan lab is pulled down from Internet. The scholarly paper by Chinese scientists Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao titled, “The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus,” uploaded to the Researchgate.net website on or about February 6, is pulled down on February 14 or 15, according to archive.org’s Wayback Machine. The scientists noted, “The killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.”

February 15

WHO says CCP has ‘bought the world time’ at great sacrifice to China. World Health Organization leader praises CCP leadership for buying the world more time, at a terrible cost to China itself.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the Chinese government appears “to have bought the world time, even though those steps have come at greater cost to China itself. But it’s slowing the spread to the rest of the world.”

“We’re concerned about the levels of rumours and misinformation that are hampering the response,” the director of WHO says at the Munich conference, with his remarks apparently aimed at critics outside China, and none directed at the Chinese leadership itself. Tedros previously had praised Xi Jinping personally for his “transparency.”

WHO won’t apply China name to COVID-19 but applies Africa name to other outbreak. In the same sentence, the World Health Organization sticks to its policy of not applying geographic names to diseases originating in China, but continues using geographic African names like Ebola. A WHO media advisory tells journalists, “Please note WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will address the Munich Security Conference today, 15 February, at approximately 3 pm CET on global health security in the context of the COVID-19 and Ebola outbreaks.”

February 16

Prominent molecular biologist says lab accident ‘cannot – and should not – be dismissed.’ Rutgers professor of chemical biology Richard H. Ebright says that while there is no evidence that the novel coronavirus was manufactured, there is a real possibility that a natural sample of the virus escaped through a lab accident:

Ebright to Senator Cotton & Washington Post reporter : “I am pleased to hear you now distinguish between possibility virus was engineered bioweapon (which can be dismissed) and possibility virus entered human population through lab accident (which cannot – and should not – be dismissed),” Ebright says on Twitter.

: “I am pleased to hear you now distinguish between possibility virus was engineered bioweapon (which can be dismissed) and possibility virus entered human population through lab accident (which cannot – and should not – be dismissed),” Ebright says on Twitter. Washington Post & MSNBC cherry-picked Ebright’s statements. The Washington Post and MSNBC reported that Ebright dismissed the engineered bioweapon theory (which Post reporter Paulina Milla Firozi and MSNBC reporter Steve Benen dismissed as a “conspiracy theory”), but did not report that Ebright would not dismiss the possibility that the virus escaped through a lab accident.

February 17

Trump again shows support for China and its efforts. Speaking to reporters before an Air Force One departure, Trump becomes effusively supportive of China and Xi:

Reporter: “Some people don’t seem to trust the data coming out of China. Are you worried about that?”

The President: “I know this: President Xi loves the people of China, he loves his country, and he’s doing a very good job with a very, very tough situation.”

Xi Jinping’s decisive hero image is starting to fall apart. CNN reports that a “transcript of an internal Communist Party speech” that Xi made to the Politburo Standing Committee on January 7 shows that Xi had known for weeks about the virus, proving that the CCP leader could not deflect blame to lower-level officials.

CNN says that Xi’s central government ‘dithered” and allowed virus to spread . “The revelation raises major questions about whether it was the central government, not authorities in Hubei, who dithered on t