A former U.S. Army microbiologist describes the report as a classic example of Beijing’s cognitive warfare waged against the United States.
News Analysis
Beijing’s latest white paper on COVID-19 didn’t just rehash propaganda—it took a step further.
Analysts say the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) resorted to its usual playbook of vitriol and lies, while revealing its biggest fear: being held liable for a pandemic that killed millions and upended the global economy.
The 23-page report titled “Covid‑19 Prevention, Control and Origins Tracing: China’s Actions and Stance” points to the United States as the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, delivers veiled jabs at the Trump administration, and devotes a whole section refuting a court judgment that China owes the state of Missouri more than $24 billion for concealing pandemic data and hoarding protective equipment.
“If solid evidence ever proves that the virus originated from a state-backed lab in Wuhan, the CCP would be compelled to address many questions regarding its gain-of-function research, motives, the early cover-up, and why it allowed the pathogen to spread overseas,” Tang Jingyuan, a U.S.‑based China affairs analyst with a clinical medicine background, told The Epoch Times.
If the CCP acknowledged its failures in handling COVID-19, he said, “it would mean confessing to a crime against humanity.”
Beijing issued its white paper on April 30, less than two weeks after the White House launched the Covid.gov website, which suggests that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan with “inadequate biosafety levels.”
Tang views the white paper as a preemptive strike in the larger U.S.–China tariff dispute. U.S. and Chinese trade officials held negotiations in Geneva on May 10–11, resulting in a 90-day trade truce in which both sides rolled back massive tariffs, providing time for further talks.
“Beijing assumes Washington might use the virus origin probe as a bargaining chip,” he said. “To neutralize that card, it moved early to muddy the waters.”
He compares the tactic to how Beijing manages the export of fentanyl precursors—deliberately creating a U.S. national security crisis that could later be leveraged for concessions.
Sean Lin, a former U.S. Army microbiologist, describes the report as a classic example of the CCP’s cognitive warfare—strategies aimed at obscuring the truth, shifting blame to Washington, and avoiding accountability.
By Sean Tseng
