News of the World

[kyonides]

Wuhan Lab Allowed to Destroy ‘Secret Files’ Under Its Partnership with US National Lab, Agreement Shows

The Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) has the right to make a partnering U.S. lab wipe all data arising from their collaborative work, a legal document reveals.
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“The party is entitled to ask the other to destroy and/or return the secret files, materials, and equipment without any backups,” states the MOU obtained by U.S. Right to Know, a nonprofit investigative research group focused on public health, through a freedom of information request.

The MOU focused on promoting research and training cooperation between the two labs. It was signed in 2017 and stays in effect through this October. But the confidentiality terms would remain binding even after the agreement’s five-year-duration expires, the agreement states.
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“All cooperation and exchange documents, details and materials shall be treated as confidential info by the parties,” the MOU states.
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WIV and the the Galveston National Laboratory formally declared their partnership the following year to “streamline future scientific and operational collaborations on dangerous pathogens,” according to a joint announcement in the journal Science.
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The Galveston lab was also among the first in the world to receive samples of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly three weeks after Le Duc urged his Chinese counterparts to share the material.

The revelations contained in the 2017 MOU appear to contradict claims from WIV scientists that they would never scrub critical research information.

We can't expect a lot from  Chinese public institutions but their American counterparts are supposed to keep track of all studies, results, tests, genetic data, etc. they have ever obtained as result of their activities. Such a clause in their agreement is outrageous to say the least.  It clearly shows us that they don't care about transparency at all.