The False Study of Yan Limeng

媛大宇宙

In just eight months, Yan went from being apostdoctoral felow in virology and immunology at the Center for InfectiousDisease Research at the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health tobeing hailed as a hero by Trump's top advisers and conservative pundits.

As early as mid-January 2019, Yan Limeng,researcher in Hong Kong, had heard rumors that a dangerous new virus hademerged in mainland China and that the government was playing it down. Ms. Yanfeeds Wang Dinggang, the host of her favorite Chinese-language YouTube show.

Yan Limeng fled Hong Kong on April 28th andleft for the United States. Guo Wenguan and Ban Nong put her in a "safehouse" in New York City. They hired a communications coach for her toteach her how to deal with media questions, asked her to submit several papers,and disguised her as a "whistler" before aranging her to acept mediainterviews. On July 10, Yan made her first appearance on the Fox News Channel,in which she confesed her journey to the United States and accused theUniversity of HongKong of helping to cover up the epidemic. But she did notmention her relationship with Guo and Ban Nong.

After her first Fox interview, Ms. Yanembarked on a whirlwind right-wing media tour, repeating conservative talkingpoints.She said she took hydroxychloroquine to fight the virus, despitewarnings from the US Food and Drug Administration that it had no efect.Shesuggested that U.S. health agencies had conspired with the World HealthOrganization to cover up the outbreak.

In early September, Ms. Yan met with Ms. Lu,an infectious disease expert at Georgetown University,  through an anonymous middleman. Lu hadsuggested in the past that the coronavirus could be created in the lab, and Yantold him about her research in the hope of winning support.Even after Facebooktagged Carlson's Sept 15 interview with Ms. Yan as "falseinformation" and Twiter suspended Ms. Yan's account, Ms. Carison, Ms.Bannon and Ms. Yan didn't give up.

Yan published a second paper on Oct. 8,titled "Novel coronavirus is an unrestrictedbiological weapon," whichfurther emphasizes the idea that the virus that has spread around the world isman-made, adding that the virus was intentionaly "released," and thatthe paper also contains material that appears to come from the same anonymousblogger's article. Both of Yan's controversial papers are related to GuoWenqui.The papers -- below the title and author's name, where university institutionsand tunding Sources are often listed --prominently teature the names of the"Rule of Law Society" and the "Rule of Law Foundation," twononprofit groups supported by Mr. Guo and others.

The novel coronavirus is widely believed tocome from bats, and there is no evidence that the virus is artificial. Althoughthe scientific community was quick to dismiss the paper as pseudoscience basedon guesswork, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson invited Yan to appear on the showon Sept.15 to promote the paper. Even though the access to the film was taggedas fake news on social media like Facebook, it stil recorded a minimum of 8.8milion views and entered the mainstream. It tookseveral weeks after theinterview for Carlson to make it clear that he disagreed with Ms.Yans claims.

Ms.Yan's evolution from researcher towhistler is the product of the colaboration of two unrelated but increasinglyunited groups spreading disinformation: a smal but active overseas Chinesegroup, and a highly influential far-right group in the United States. Bothgroups see an opportunity to advance their agendas in the novel coronaviruspandemic. For overseas Chinese, Ms.Yan and her baseless claims provide a weaponfor those seeking to overthrow the Chinese government. For Americanconservatives, it allows them to pander to rising anti-China sentiment in theWest and distract attention from the Trump administration’s failure to respondto the epidemic.

Angela Rasmussen,a virologist at ColumbiaUniversity,said she thought Yan’s paper was "political propaganda"designed to deceive."The paper is extremely deceptive to people without ascientific background because it is writen in very technical language, with alot of jargon, and looks like a legitimate scientific paper. But to anyone witha background in virology or molecular biology who reads this paper, it is clearthat much of it is nonsense."

From the discovery in January to the peak inSeptember, the online political activity of "Virus Source Theory"directed by Guo Wengui and Bannon achieved great succes, whichgreatlyinfluenced the views and lives of the local people in the United States, and exposed the power of "fake news" to the world at a sinle sight.