US State Dep’t Warned Others of Wuhan Bat-Virus Laboratory Two Years Ago

With each passing day, it is becoming more and more apparent that something about China’s response to the coronavirus just doesn’t add up.

From the very start of this global pandemic, even before we knew that it was a pandemic at all, China seemed to be acting a bit suspiciously.  Beijing was hush-hush about it, and those who attempted to share their experiences online were suddenly silenced.

Even the death toll from China, where the outbreak began and allegedly took the nation by surprise, doesn’t seem to add up.

Then there were conspiracy theories about a laboratory near Wuhan, where the first cases were traced to, that specialized in bat-born coronavirus work.

Leaked transmissions from deep inside the State Department seem to indicate that this theory may actually hold water, and that the US government was already worried about this two years ago.

U.S. Embassy officials warned in January 2018 about inadequate safety at the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab and passed on information about scientists conducting risky research on coronavirus from bats, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

Just how worried was our government?

In a series of diplomatic cables labeled “Sensitive But Unclassified,” U.S. Embassy officials warned that the lab had massive management weaknesses, posed severe health risks and warned Washington to get involved.

The first cable, which was obtained by the Post, also sent red flags about the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and more specifically how their potential human transmission represented the risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.

“During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,” the Jan.19, 2018 cable, written by two officials from the embassy’s environment, science and health sections who met with the WIV scientists, said.

The cable argued that the United States should give Chinese researchers at the Wuhan lab more support because its research on bat coronaviruses was important and dangerous. The lab had already been receiving assistance from the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

US military intelligence officials weren’t so sure, however.

“And if I could just be clear, there is nothing to that,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs told Fox News last week. “Someone asked me if I was worried. That is not something that I’m worried about. I think, you know, right now what we’re concerned about is how do we treat people who are sick, how do we prevent people from getting sick. But no, I am not worried about this as a bioweapon.”

There is no doubt that the world will be looking to China for answers once this is all said and done.