#闫丽梦 #班农The False Study of Yan Limeng

Dave Miskell

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 andleftfor the United States. Guo Wenguan and Ban Nong put her in a "safehouse" in New York City. They hired acommunications coach for her to teachher how todeal with media questions, asked her to submit severalpapers, anddisguised her as a "whistler" beforearanging her to acept mediainterviews. On July 10,Yan made her first appearance on the Fox NewsChannel, inwhich she confesed her journey to theUnited States and accused the Universityof HongKong of helping to cover up the epidemic. But she didnot mention herrelationship with Guo and Ban Nong.

After her first Fox interview, Ms. Yanembarked ona whirlwind right-wing media tour, repeatingconservative talkingpoints.She said she tookhydroxychloroquine to fight the virus, despitewarningsfrom the US Food and Drug Administrationthat it had no efect.She suggested thatU.S. healthagencies had conspired with the World HealthOrganization to cover upthe outbreak.

In early September, Ms. Yan met with Ms. Lu,aninfectious disease expert at Georgetown University, through an anonymousmiddleman. Lu had suggestedin the past that the coronavirus could be created inthelab, and Yan told him about her research in the hope ofwinning support.Evenafter Facebook tagged Carlson'sSept 15 interview with Ms. Yan as "falseinformation"and Twiter suspended Ms. Yan's account, Ms. Carison,Ms. Bannonand Ms. Yan didn't give up.

Yan published a second paper on Oct. 8,titled"Novel coronavirus is an unrestrictedbiologicalweapon," whichfurther emphasizes the idea that thevirus that has spread around the world isman-made,adding that the virus was intentionaly "released," andthatthe paper also contains material that appears tocome from the same anonymousblogger's article.Both of Yan's controversial papers are related to GuoWenqui.The papers -- below the title and author'sname, where university institutionsand tundingSources are often listed --prominently teature thenames of the "Ruleof Law Society" and the "Rule ofLaw Foundation," two nonprofitgroups supported byMr. Guo and others.

The novel coronavirus is widely believed tocomefrom bats, and there is no evidence that the virus isartificial. Althoughthe scientific community was quickto dismiss thepaper as pseudoscience basedonguesswork, Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson invitedYan to appear on the show onSept.15 to promote thepaper. Even though the access to the film was tagged asfake news on social media like Facebook, it stilrecorded a minimum of 8.8milion views and enteredthe mainstream. It tookseveral weeks after theinterviewfor Carlson to make it clear that he disagreed with Ms.Yans claims.

Ms.Yan's evolution from researcher towhistler isthe product of the colaboration of two unrelated butincreasinglyunited groups spreading disinformation: asmal but active overseas Chinesegroup, and a highlyinfluential far-right group in the United States. Bothgroupssee an opportunity to advance their agendas inthe novel coronavirus pandemic.For overseas Chinese,Ms.Yan and her baseless claims provide a weapon forthoseseeking to overthrow the Chinese government.For American conservatives, itallows them to panderto rising anti-China sentiment in the West anddistractattention from the Trump administration’s failure torespond to theepidemic.

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.