China Doesn¡¯t Want Anyone To Know Truth About COVID-19, Deletes Pages From University Papers

As China continues to be slammed for the way they handled the novel coronavirus crisis, recent reports suggest that the government is clamping down information related to the deadly virus.

Reuters

According to a Guardian report, China is cracking down on the publication of academic research about the origin of the novel coronavirus, documents published online by Chinese universities show.

Two websites for leading Chinese universities appear to have recently published and then removed pages which dealt with COVID-19 origins. The Guardian report claims to have accessed both the deleted pages through online cache. Critics reportedly said the move is aimed at controlling the narrative around the outbreak, which started in China's Wuhan and went on to kill over one lakh people around the world.

One research document obtained by The Guardian, appeared to be from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and it mentioned that 'publication of research into the origins of Covid-19 would need approval from the science and technology ministry'.

Another notice, which appears to have been published on April 9 by the school of information science and technology at Fudan University in Shanghai, called for 'strict and serious' management of papers investigating the source of the outbreak.

The since-deleted notice on the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) mentioned additional vetting by China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) as a requirement for academic papers on COVID-19 (Coronavirus Diseases 2019).

The Fudan University notice also deleted mentioned additional review by a special office. Contact details of the office listed in the notice were traced to China's Ministry of Education, by The Guardian.

Reuters

Speaking to The Guardian, Prof Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute in London said, ¡°In terms of priority, controlling the narrative is more important than the public health or the economic fallout."

¡°It doesn¡¯t mean the economy and public health aren¡¯t important. But the narrative is paramount," Prof Steve Tsang said.

The University¡¯s academic committee was expected to first go through the research 'with an emphasis on checking the accuracy of the thesis, as well as whether it is suitable for publication', the regulation said.

It said, 'When the checks have been completed, the school should report to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and it should only be published after it has been checked by MOST'. The Geoscience university said on its website that it was carrying out coronavirus research despite its name.

A Chinese study senior research fellow at Monash University, Kevin Carrico, said, "They are seeking to transform [the outbreak] from a massive disaster to one where the government did everything right."

Reuters

Carrico said that although he was not aware of any specific recent change in the rules for academic research in China, the documents accessed by The Guardian were consistent with Chinese efforts to control the narrative of the pandemic.

China's president, Xi Jinping, put 'tracing the origin of the virus' on a list of national priorities, as the exact origin of the pandemic is still unclear. The Chinese embassy in London has been contacted for comment.

The virus is believed to been originated at a seafood market in China¡¯s Huanan province. Scientists say that the virus probably originated in bats an then passed on through an intermediary host before infecting the first human.

ALL INPUTS: The Guardian