18/Conspiracy theories peddled by China's foreign ministry blaming the US, coupled with the sudden crackdown on research into the virus, played well among a Chinese audience upset at unfair, often racist criticism from overseas.
twitter.com/zlj517/status/…

19/But it backfired spectacularly abroad, turbocharging suspicions that Beijing was covering up a lab leak.
Politicians on both sides of the Pacific fanned nationalist hatred at each other, unleashing a wave of vitriol and hate aimed at scientists.
science.org/content/articl…

20/A WHO recording shows that as early as Feb 11, Chinese officials discussed a theory that the virus could spread via frozen seafood. Liang, MFA and state media wielded that theory to deny connections between China and the virus, claiming it could have been imported from abroad

21/When WHO experts went back to Wuhan in Jan 2021 to investigate the origins, Liang was again in charge. He pushed an implausible theory that the outbreak started with frozen goods, and undercut evidence showing the virus might have come from wildlife sold at the market

22/Under Liang, workers at the market were organized telling the WHO experts no live wildlife was sold at the market. Liang cut photos of live wildlife sold at the market in December 2019 that aired in this CNN piece, arguing there was no metadata
facebook.com/sandi.sidhu.39…

23/Evidence later emerged showing that live wildlife was indeed sold at the market, such as this very thorough paper surveying tens of thousands of specimen at the market from 2017 - 2019:
nature.com/articles/s4159…

24/Chinese scientists were put under intense pressure not to publish on the virus, even if it strengthened the case for a natural, not lab origin. Many ran into trouble for publishing on links to the market.

And that finally brings us to what started it all...

25/Last year, when detailed data from samples collected at the beginning of the outbreak finally emerged showing a possible connection to raccoon dogs at the market, foreign scientists were utterly bewildered at a) how long it took (3 years), and...
apnews.com/article/covid-…

26/...why the data appeared & disappeared with little explanation.
Now we have an idea of why: the intense pressure Chinese scientists are under.
The head of a China CDC lab was forced to retire over release of the market data, illustrating how toxic research into the virus is

27/To be clear, this does not answer whether the virus came from nature or leaked from a lab. WHO says repeatedly that all theories should be investigated, including a lab leak, and Chinese officials have balked at an independent audit, the only way to rule out that possibility

28/But what our story does show is that to divert blame, politicians - such as Liang, China's Foreign Ministry, and others - sidelined scientists and promoted conspiracies that undercut China's credibility, damaged scientific collaboration, and fueled lab leak speculation.