1118 FBI says 1000 investigations open into Tech theft by China; Virus could affect Tokyo Olympics

FBI says 1000 investigations open into Tech theft by China; Virus could
affect Tokyo  Olympics

Newsletter published on February 7, 2020

(1) Israel Shamir on Harvard espionage Prof: I unhesitatingly approve of
such "theft"
(2) Company set up in China; Joint venture staff stole the expertise.
Can't trust them - Eric Walberg
(3) Bankers create Hegalian Dialectic through Technology Transfers -
Chris Paul
(4) FBI says about 1,000 investigations open into attempted Tech theft
by China
(5) Emory Professor arrested for failing to disclose Thousand Talents
income from China
(6) Outrage at death of whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang; existential
crisis for Xi & the Party
(7) Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?
(8) Japan finds 41 more cases on cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama;
Tokyo  Olympics in doubt

(1) Israel Shamir on Harvard espionage Prof: I unhesitatingly approve of
such "theft"

From: israel shamir <israel.shamir@gmail.com> {HAIFA, ISRAEL; also
Sweden & Russia at times}
Subject: Re: Professor-Spies transfer Tech to China; China's Non-Traditional
  Espionage - statement by FBI

Peter, indeed the comparisons with 1930s and 1950s are valid ones. I am
worried that you quote FBI and support China-bashing, as your father
probably supported FBI stopping technology transfer to the Soviet Union.
You call normal information flow - "spying". The sum of knowledge the
scientists "steal" had been accumulated by mankind, including Russian
and Chinese scientists and it was stolen "privatised" by the US and its
allies. Such "stealing" you approve of, while return of knowledge to
mankind is "theft", in your vocabulary?

No, dear Peter, knowledge belongs to all, as it was accumulated by all.
I unhesitatingly approve of such "theft". In my book, it is
expropriation of expropriators. God bless this Harvard scientist who had
helped the Chinese to advance. I really do not want to discuss Chinese
political system - it is their internal affair. Similar or not to the
USSR, is quite irrelevant. What is relevant is that the Empire you chose
to support endeavors to steal everything - Iraqi oil, Russian minds,
Chinese work - and leave them poor and miserable. No way
Shamir

(2) Company set up in China; Joint venture staff stole the expertise.
Can't trust them - Eric Walberg
From: Eric Walberg <walberg2002@yahoo.com> {TORONTO, CANADA}
Subject: Re: Professor-Spies transfer Tech to China; China's Non-Traditional
  Espionage - statement by FBI

hi peter

 > China became wealthy and strong quickly: it stole, and
 > sometimes bought, technology from American, European and Japanese
 > companies which had been enticed to move factories to China, or build
 > infrastructure in China.

A fellow from the Islamic revival retreat works for a computer
programming firm in Hamilton. They opened a joint venture in China (you
have to have a local 'partner'). They set up shop there, trained local
staff, then were shafted and discovered their staff was now operating
independently, having stolen the expertise.
I suspect that is standard procedure. It makes no sense to trust the
Chinese under these circumstances. The soviets just invited westerners
in to help them set up, not to steal.

(3) Bankers create Hegalian Dialectic through Technology Transfers -
Chris Paul

From: Christopher Paul <christophermpaul@outlook.com> {NEW ZEALAND}
Subject: Re: Professor-Spies transfer Tech to China; China's Non-Traditional
  Espionage - statement by FBI

Peter. The history of International Bankers is to create Hegalian
Dialectic through Technology Transfers (c. f. Brendon O'Connell re
Israeli Tech to China) and the harvest the Chaos of the subsequent War.
Full Spectrum. They are all Bad Bastards. Read E. Michael Jones "Jewish
Revolutionary Spirit" and "Barren Metal".

Comment (Peter M.):

The Bankers promote Free Trade; but they themselves don't do Reverse
Engineering. China did it, just as the Soviet Union did it, as shown by
Antony C. Sutton in his 3-volume study.

Do Kazakstan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nigeria reverse-engineer Chinese
technology, when it builds projects there? No. Neither do Thailand or
Indonesia. I have not heard of Vietnam doing it.

Brendon O'Connell was granted asylum in Iran. After living there, he
turned against the Iranian gov't. Then he was granted asylum in
Malaysia. Has now turned against the Malaysian gov't. He seems to burn
his bridges wherever he goes. Fouls his nest. Don't make a hero of him.

I downloaded his UNHCR application and looked through it. He claims that
China's Belt & Road is really Israeli. He keeps saying it, but provides
no evidence.

He says, "Iran is DEEP in bed with Russia and China on the Belt & Road.
Israel leads it."

Putin's Eurasian Economic Union is not the same as China's Belt & Road.

The Belt & Road is an infrastructure program. It's using Chinese
technology, much of which it copied from Japan, Germany & the US. It
gets technology wherever it can find it; and China is now innovating,
producing a lot of patents.

He suggests that the Belt & Road is really owned by Israel. But presents
no evidence for this.

The companies which contract to build Belt & Road infrastructure
programs are partly state-owned (by the Chinese gov't) and partly private.

eg see Israel outsourcing its National Infrastructure to China:
https://www.beltandroad.news/2019/08/03/why-is-israel-outsourcing-its-national-infrastructure-to-china/

But they are not owned by Israel.

(4) FBI says about 1,000 investigations open into attempted Tech theft
by China

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-spying-fbi/fbi-says-about-1000-investigations-open-into-attempted-tech-theft-by-china-idUSKBN200206

FEBRUARY 7, 2020 / 1:43 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Thursday
that China was seeking to steal U.S. technology by "any means necessary"
and the law enforcement agency has about 1,000 investigations open into
Chinese technology theft across its 56 regional offices.

Wray told a conference hosted by Washington’s Center for Strategic and
International Studies think tank that the economic threat from China was
"diverse and multilayered."

"As I stand here talking with you today, the FBI has about 1,000
investigations involving China’s attempted theft of U.S. based
technology in all 56 of our field offices and spanning just about every
industry sector," he said.

Senior U.S. counter-intelligence official William Evanina told the same
conference that China was placing priority on stealing U.S. aircraft and
electric vehicle technology.

(5) Emory Professor arrested for failing to disclose Thousand Talents
income from China

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/emory-professor-hit-criminal-charge-linked-chinese-government-program-n1129911

Emory professor hit with criminal charge, linked to Chinese government
program

Xiojiang Li was a member of the Thousand Talents plan, a Chinese program
that a Senate report last year said was designed to steal sensitive
research.

Feb. 5, 2020, 4:06 AM AEST

By Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON — A former Emory University neuroscientist who was fired last
year after the university alleged he failed to disclose income from
China is facing a criminal charge, court records show.

The federal charge against Xiojiang Li, alleging theft of grant funds,
spotlights a new federal effort to combat Chinese economic espionage on
university campuses. Li was a member of the Thousand Talents plan, a
Chinese recruitment program that a Senate report last year said was
designed to steal sensitive research.

The charge was filed in November but not announced. George Washington
University's Seamus Hughes, who closely scrutinizes federal court
records, unearthed the case Tuesday.

Federal authorities have stepped up their efforts to investigate and
prosecute American researchers who allegedly concealed relationships
with Chinese universities and programs, arguing that China is using
those ties to obtain sensitive research. Academic leaders and activists
have accused the federal government of a massive overreaction that
smacks of racial profiling.

Last week, the chairman of Harvard's chemistry department, Charles
Lieber, was charged with lying to investigators about more than $1
million he allegedly received from Chinese sources. Lieber, out on bond,
has not commented.

Like Li, Lieber was allegedly associated with China’s Thousand Talents
plan. Last year's bipartisan Senate report said the program required
contracts that "violate U.S. standards of research integrity, place
members in compromising legal and ethical positions, and undermine
fundamental U.S. scientific norms of transparency, reciprocity, and
integrity."

NBC News reported Sunday that U.S. intelligence officials believe
America's world class university system has become an easy target for a
Chinese government determined to steal U.S. intellectual property.
Beijing denies such a campaign.

Last May, Emory announced it had fired Li and his wife Shihua Li — also
a neuroscientist — alleging they had failed to disclose income from
Thousand Talents, the Chinese talent recruitment program.

The criminal complaint names only Li Xiao-Jiang, and it alleged he
accepted a full salary from Emory paid in part by federal research
grants, despite working for a significant portion of the time in China.

The complaint reveals that the university, as part of its investigation,
reviewed Li's emails and turned some of them over to the FBI. The emails
revealed that Li was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars from 2012 to
2016 working for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to the
criminal complaint.

A lawyer for Li, Peter Zeidenberg, said he had no comment.

After the firing in May, Li pushed back publicly against Emory, saying
he disclosed his Chinese relationships to the university.

"I was shocked that Emory University would terminate a tenured professor
in such an unusual and abrupt fashion and close our combined lab
consisting of a number of graduates and postdoctoral trainees without
giving me specific details for the reasons behind my termination," he
said in a statement published on the website of Science magazine.

Li and his wife, both U.S. citizens, had worked at Emory for 23 years,
he told the magazine. They had been studying Huntington's disease.

Li told Science magazine the university shut down the couple's joint
laboratory, which was part of the medical school, and that four
postdoctoral students working in the lab, who are Chinese nationals,
were told to leave the U.S. within 30 days.

The criminal complaint says that in 2015, Li told Emory he wanted to
switch to part-time status so he could spent more time working in China.
But no agreement was executed, the complaint says, and Li continued to
accept full time salary while working in China. In 2015, the complaint
says, his travel records show that he spent 146 days in China.

In a statement, Emory said, "Emory remains committed to the free
exchange of ideas and research and to our vital collaborations with
researchers from around the world. At the same time, Emory also takes
seriously its obligation to be a good steward of federal research
dollars, to ensure compliance with all funding disclosure and other
requirements, and to promote adherence to its own policies."

Li is free on bond, and a preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled
to occur next month, court records show.

(6) Outrage at death of whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang; existential
crisis for Xi & the Party

https://sinocism.com/p/reports-of-the-death-dr-li-wenliang

Reports of the death Dr. Li Wenliang spark outrage; Internet media crackdown

Bill Bishop

There are still no signs the outbreak is close to coming under control.

Here are the latest official figures on virus cases in China from Caixin:

28,060 confirmed cases;

564 deaths;

24,702 suspected cases;

1,153 have recovered

Reuters reports that the leadership is now considering delaying the
upcoming "Two Meetings" scheduled for early March and quotes an official
saying the outbreak may still not be contained in a month - China may
delay annual meeting of parliament due to virus outbreak:

"The focus remains on taking steps forward towards meeting on schedule,
but we are discussing a range of options as the (virus) situation
doesn't look likely to be contained by March," a senior government
official told Reuters, declining to be identified given the sensitivity
of the matter.

Social media is blowing up over the news that Wuhan whistleblower doctor
Li Wenliang has died. This is from the Global Times, in a now deleted
report:

Chinese doctor Li Wenliang, one of the eight whistleblowers who tried to
warn other medics of the coronavirus outbreak but were reprimanded by
local police, dies of coronavirus on Thursday in Wuhan, the Global Times
has learned.

But in a morbid twist it appears that the relevant authorities, probably
after seeing the online uproar, may not be allowing him to die
officially yet. There has been quite the back and forth about whether or
not he has actually passed. I saw reports from The Global Times, Caixin
and The Beijing News that he had died; those are now gone. If they got
it wrong then heads will role for making such a consequential "political
error". But from other reports on Wechat it sounds like the order came
from above to keep him "alive". It is all just so dark.

The reports of Li’s death, true or not, are crystallizing deep anger and
frustration. The Party’s social contract with the people—-ensuring the
people’s well being and providing ever-increasing economic prosperity-is
being stressed on a nationwide level in ways I don’t recall in the past
several decades. Last Friday I wrote that "this is as close to an
existential crisis for Xi and the Party that I think we have seen since
1989", and I think it is even more so a week later.

The Essential Eight

1. The outbreak

[...]  senior Chinese official has ordered the authorities in the city
of Wuhan to immediately round up all residents in the city who have been
infected with the coronavirus and place them in isolation, quarantine,
or in designated hospitals.

Sun Chunlan, a vice premier tasked with leading the central government’s
response to the outbreak, said city investigators should go to each home
to check the temperatures of every resident and interview infected
patients’ close contacts.

"Set up a 24-hour duty system. During these wartime conditions, there
must be no deserters, or they will be nailed to the pillar of historical
shame forever," Ms. Sun said.

The city’s authorities have raced to meet these instructions by setting
up makeshift mass quarantine shelters this week. But concerns are
growing about whether the centers, which will house thousands of people
in large spaces, will be able to provide even basic care to patients and
protect against the risk of further infection. [...]

Coronavirus: Zhejiang adopts draconian quarantine measures to fight
disease | South China Morning Post

In the Chinese coastal province of Zhejiang, some 560km (350 miles) east
of where the new coronavirus originated, at least four cities have
introduced measures that mirror the draconian rules established by Hubei
province – epicentre of the outbreak – to keep the virus from spreading...

In the Zhejiang cities of Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Taizhou – which
have a combined population of more than 30 million – each household is
being issued a "passport", usually a piece of paper that carries one’s
name, home address and an official stamp. Only one person per household
is permitted to leave their home every two days.

China's Nanchang city to limit access to villages, compounds to prevent
virus spread - Reuters

The Chinese city of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, will strictly
monitor the entry and exit of residents from villages and residential
compounds as it steps up its efforts to control the spread of a
coronavirus outbreak. [...]

2. Internet media crackdown

China Clamps Down on Coronavirus Coverage as Cases Surge - The New York
Times

In recent days, both state-run news media and more commercially minded
outlets have been told to focus on positive stories about virus relief
efforts, according to three people at Chinese news organizations who
spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal directives. [...]

3. Economic impact

Commodity Chaos Deepens as China LNG Buyer Invokes Force Majeure - Bloomberg

In a dramatic and rare step, China National Offshore Oil Corp. declared
what’s known as force majeure, meaning it won’t take delivery of some
LNG cargoes, because the virus is constraining its ability to import the
fuel. It’s among the first known cases of the legal clause being invoked
in commodity contracts as a result of the epidemic...

China said last week that it would offer support to companies seeking to
declare force majeure on international contracts. The clause allows a
company to opt out of obligations without legal recourse because of
reasons beyond its control.

Coronavirus outbreak dries up major Chinese cities’ labor pools - Global
Times

It is not exactly clear how much of the country's 288 million migrant
workers, which account for one third of China's total labor force,
remain stuck. But a labor shortage issue seems to be haunting major
Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen,
where demands for workers have been climbing in recent years amid boom
of manufacturing and service sectors.

According to data released by Beijing's transportation authority on
Tuesday, among the 10 million people that left the capital ahead of the
Spring Festival holidays, 8 million still have not returned.

China’s property market stalls amid coronavirus outbreak | Financial
Times $$

The impact of the crisis on China’s property market, which some estimate
makes up 25 per cent of gross domestic product, is threatening to weigh
down the country’s economic growth to 4 per cent in the first quarter,
according to several analysts. [...]

Toyota and Nintendo warn of hit from coronavirus outbreak | Financial
Times $$

Two of Japan’s biggest companies have warned of a hit from the
coronavirus outbreak with Nintendo saying there will be delays to
shipments of its best-selling Switch console and Toyota braced for a
dent to car sales in China.

Millions of chickens at risk amid China lockdowns due to coronavirus - CNBC

The shutdowns in China’s provinces have hit supply chains, with
transport restrictions preventing much needed animal feed such as
soybean meal from getting delivered to poultry farms, according to
analysts and Chinese state media. [...]

5. Travel

Suspending flights not to help curb epidemic, but sow panic:
spokesperson - Xinhua [...]

China's civil flights won't be suspended: FM spokesperson - Xinhua

China's civil flights will not be suspended, and the Chinese government
will bring Chinese nationals home from wherever they are, a foreign
ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

6. US-China

China to Cut Tariffs on $75 Billion of U.S. Goods - WSJ $$

China said it would slash tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. imports in half
as part of its efforts to implement a recently signed trade agreement
with Washington. [...]

7. Taiwan

U.S. and China clash at WHO over Taiwan participation - Reuters

"For the rapidly evolving coronavirus, it is a technical imperative that
WHO present visible public health data on Taiwan as an affected area and
engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities on actions,"
Andrew Bremberg, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, told the WHO’s
Executive Board.

China’s delegation took the floor to express its "strong
dissatisfaction" that some countries had raised the issue of Taiwan’s
participation during the technical meeting. [...]

8. Xinjiang

China Shifts to New Phase in Campaign to Control Xinjiang’s Muslims - WSJ $$

During a recent visit to several cities and towns in the Uighur
heartland of southern Xinjiang, it was clear that many of the overt
security measures employed in recent years have been rolled back after
months of international scrutiny and criticism from the U.S. and other
Western nations.

Yet other, at-times more subtle, forms of control remain in place...

A range of factors likely contributed to the decision to shut down some
camps and roll back some of the police presence, including officials’
confidence that they had achieved their goal of diluting the influence
of Islam, said James Leibold, an expert on Chinese ethnic-minority
policies at Melbourne’s La Trobe University.

"I do think international pressure has played some role," he said.
"Another big driver is the energy and expenses of creating a police
state." [...]

(7) Is This The Man Behind The Global Coronavirus Pandemic?

 From chris lancenet <chrislancenet@gmail.com>

by Tyler Durden

Wed, 01/29/2020 - 09:01

In light of growing speculation, most of it within less than official
circles, that the official theory for the spread of the Coronavirus
epidemic, namely because someone ate bat soup at a Wuhan seafood and
animal market...

... is a fabricated farce, and that the real reason behind the viral
spread is because a weaponized version of the coronavirus (one which may
have originally been obtained from Canada), was released by Wuhan's
Institute of Virology (accidentally or not), a top, level-4 biohazard
lab which was studying "the world's most dangerous pathogens", perhaps
it would be a good idea for the same Wuhan Institute of Virology to
remove the following "help wanted" notice, posted on November 18, 2019,
according to which the institute is seeking to hire one or two post-doc
fellows, who will use "bats to research the molecular mechanism that
allows Ebola and SARS-associated coronaviruses to lie dormant for a long
time without causing diseases."

The right candidate will:

Have obtained or is about to obtain a PhD in life science/biomedical
related fields;

Have a reliable and rigorous work style, with strong independent
scientific research ability and teamwork spirit;

Have strong English communication and writing skills, have research
papers published in the international mainstream academic journals Have
a cell biology, immunology, genomics and other relevant background
experience is preferred;

The full job posting, which can still be found on the Wuhan Institute of
Virology website can be found here (and screengrabbed below as it will
be gone within a few hours). ...

Why is this notable? Because as it turns out, this is a job posting for
the lab of Dr. Peng Zhou (??), Ph.D., a researcher at the Wuhan
Institute of Virology and Leader of the Bat Virus Infection and
Immunization Group. Some more on Zhou's background from the Institute
(google translated):

He received his PhD in Wuhan Virus Research Institute in 2010 and has
worked on bat virus and immunology in Australia and Singapore. In 2009,
he took the lead in starting the research on the immune mechanism of bat
long-term carrying and transmitting virus in the world. So far, he has
published more than 30 SCI articles, including the first and
corresponding author's Nature, Cell Host Microbe and PNAS . At present,
research on bat virus and immunology is continuing, and it has received
support from the National "You Qing" Fund, the pilot project of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the major project of the Ministry of
Science and Technology.

Below is a list of several recent papers published by Dr. Zhou

Dampened STING-Dependent Interferon Activation in Bats

Fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related
coronavirus of bat origin

IFNAR2-dependent gene expression profile induced by IFN-a in Pteropus
alecto bat cells and impact of IFNAR2 knockout on virus infection

Immunogenicity of the spike glycoprotein of Bat SARS-like coronavirus

Bat severe acute respiratory syndrome-like coronavirus ORF3b homologues
display different interferon antagonist activities

Which brings us to the punchline: courtesy of the Wuhan institute of
virology, here is a press release from Dr. Zhou's lab titled "How bats
carry viruses without getting sick":

Bats are known to harbor highly pathogenic viruses like Ebola, Marburg,
Hendra, Nipah, and SARS-CoV, and yet they do not show clinical signs of
disease. In a paper published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe on
February 22, scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China find
that in bats, an antiviral immune pathway called the STING-interferon
pathway is dampened, and bats can maintain just enough defense against
illness without triggering a heightened immune reaction.

"We believe there is a balance between bats and the pathogens they
carry," says senior author Peng Zhou. "This work demonstrated that in
order to maintain a balance with viruses, bats may have evolved to
dampen certain pathways."

In humans and other mammals, an immune-based over-response to one of
these and other pathogenic viruses can trigger severe illness. For
example, in humans, an activated STING pathway is linked with severe
autoimmune diseases.

"In human history, we have been chasing infectious diseases one after
another," says Zhou, "but bats appear to be a 'super-mammal' to these
deadly viruses." By identifying a weakened but not defunct STING
pathway, researchers have some new insight into how bats fine-tune
antiviral defenses to balance an effective, but not an overt, response
against viruses.

The authors hypothesize that this defense strategy evolved as part of
three interconnected features of bat biology: they are flying mammals,
have a long lifespan, and host a large viral reservoir.

"Adaptation to flight likely caused positive selection of multiple bat
innate immune and DNA damage repair genes," Zhou says. These adaptations
may have shaped certain antiviral pathways (STING, interferon, and
others) to make them good viral reservoir hosts and achieve a tolerable
balance."

And just in case, here is a google-translated press release from Jan 18,
2019 describing the achievements of Dr. Peng Zhou:

Wuhan has the first person in the global bat immunity research: "I
rushed forward with a sword"

Changjiang Daily Financial Media May 4 hearing last month as they tied
for first author made a "natural", in recent years, the Chinese Academy
of Sciences Wuhan virus after 80 young researchers Zhou Peng has been in
the "natural", "American Academy of Sciences "And other international
authoritative magazines published 28 papers, becoming academic stars. In
an interview with reporters recently, he introduced that young
scientists do not rely on genius to hold, but rely on "super confident".

It is understood that Zhou Peng is the pioneer of global bat immune
system research. "Bats carry viruses but do not get sick. They have not
been researched by scientists before, and certainly have specificity
different from other species, but this is like you know the beginning
and Ending without knowing how the story happened. " After more than 10
years of research, Zhou Peng discovered that an antiviral immune channel
called "interferon gene-stimulating protein-interferon" in the bat's
body was inhibited, so that the bat could just resist the disease
without triggering a strong immune response. The results were published
in Cells, Hosts and Microorganisms, which aroused the attention of the
academic community.

Zhou Peng, a student of undergraduate bioengineering, experienced SARS
(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in his junior year, which made him
interested in the virus: "A small virus makes the world mess." He was
admitted to the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences at the postgraduate level, and studied under Shi Zhengli, a bat
expert. Focusing on the virus carried by the bat, then I was wondering
if the bat's immune system is special. "

After graduating from the PhD, he entered the Australian Animal Health
Laboratory and became the first person in the global bat immunity
research. "I went through 4 years of trial and error, groped in the
dark, and hit the South Wall numerous times. I still remember a 'darkest
moment' 'In the local cold winter, I was holding the frostbite knee,
sitting at the beach, and asking myself why this was the case.'

He began to learn Australian jokes and inspired himself. In 2016, during
postdoctoral studies at Duke University-National University of Singapore
Medical School, he was concerned that a certain interferon in bats is
always maintained at a high level. This paper became the cover article
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "Bat Immunity
"This door was opened, and more and more people in the world are paying
attention to this field." Our generation, when we were in college,
watched "The Forrest Gump" and "Redemption of Shawshank" and taught us
stupidity and perseverance. I I feel like I am carrying a sword and
rushing forward. "

After returning to China in 2016, Zhou Peng returned to his alma mater
to become a little-known young researcher. "In the long run, bats carry
the virus without getting sick. It is hoped that humans can learn how to
fight the virus, but this is still far from industrialization. Far, the
road ahead is long, and we must remain 'super confident' and continue to
move forward. "(Reporter Li Jia correspondent Chen teased Li Li intern
Luo Yameng)

And here is the man, the myth, the bat-god himself: Peng Zhou.

His bio (source):

Peng Zhou, Ph.D., researcher, team leader of bat virus infection and
immunity. He successively obtained bachelor's and doctoral degrees from
Henan University (2004) and Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy
of Sciences (2010). During his doctorate, he was sent to the Australian
Animal Health Laboratory for study. He then carried out research work at
Duke-Nus Medical College in Australia and Singapore. He has long been
engaged in the research of new virus epidemiology and bat antiviral
immunity, revealing that bats carry SARS, MERS, and Ebola for a long
time but do not have their own immune mechanisms.

Currently he is hosting and undertaking 3 projects of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Special project and a major national science and technology project - a
major project for the prevention and control of infectious diseases.
Currently published 28 SCI papers, including Nature, Cell Host Microbe,
PNAS and other articles SCI papers, including Nature, Cell Host Microbe,
PNAS and other articles published by the first or corresponding author.
It is at the forefront of the world in the field of bat and virus research.

So to summarize:

One of China's top virology and immunology experts was and still works
at China's top-rated biohazard lab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology,
which some have affectionately called the real Umbrella Corp. Since
2009, Peng has been the leading Chinese scientist researching the immune
mechanism of bats carrying and transmitting lethal viruses in the world.

His primary field of study is researching how and why bats can be
infected with some of the most nightmarish viruses in the world
including Ebola, SARS and Coronavirus, and not get sick. He was
genetically engineering various immune pathways (such as the STING
pathway in bats) to make the bats more or less susceptible to infection,
in the process potentially creating a highly resistant mutant superbug.

As part of his studies, Peng also researched mutant Coronavirus strains
that overcame the natural immunity of some bats; these are "superbug"
Coronavirus strains, which are not resistant to any natural immune
pathway, and now appear to be out in the wild.

As of mid-November, his lab was actively hiring inexperienced post-docs
to help conduct his research into super-Coronaviruses and bat infections.

Peng's work on virology and bat immunology has received support from the
National "You Qing" Fund, the pilot project of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences, and the major project of the Ministry of Science and
Technology. * * *

Something tells us, if anyone wants to find out what really caused the
coronavirus pandemic that has infected thousands of people in China and
around the globe, they should probably pay Dr. Peng a visit.

Or at least start with an email: Dr Peng can be reached at
peng.zhou@wh.iov.cn, and his phone# is 87197311.

(8) Japan finds 41 more cases on cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama;
Tokyo  Olympics in doubt

https://apnews.com/35dca0529517330f88896f3f02d1ee11

Japan finds 41 more cases on ship as virus alarm doctor dies

By KEN MORITSUGU and MARI YAMAGUCHI

February 6, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — Japan on Friday reported 41 new cases of a virus on a
cruise ship that's been quarantined in Yokohama harbor while the death
toll in mainland China rose to 636, including a doctor who got in
trouble with authorities in the communist country for sounding an early
warning about the disease threat.

Two docked cruise ships with thousands of passengers and crew members
remained under 14-day quarantines in Hong Kong and Japan.

Before Friday's 41 confirmed cases, 20 passengers who were found
infected with the virus were escorted off the Diamond Princess at
Yokohama near Tokyo. About 3,700 people have been confined aboard the ship.

Meanwhile, a newborn discovered infected 36 hours after birth has become
the youngest known patient. The number of people infected globally has
risen to more than 31,000.

Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, had worked at a hospital in the epicenter of the
outbreak in the central city of Wuhan. He was reprimanded by local
police for "spreading rumors" about the illness in late December,
according to news reports. The outbreak has spread to some two dozen
countries, triggering travel restrictions and quarantines around the
world and a crisis inside the country of 1.4 billion.

The World Health Organization tweeted: "We are deeply saddened by the
passing of Dr Li Wenliang. We all need to celebrate work that he did" on
the virus.

Within a half-hour of announcing earlier Friday that Li was in critical
condition, the hospital received nearly 500,000 comments on its social
media post, many of them from people hoping Li would pull through. One
wrote: "We are not going to bed. We are here waiting for a miracle."

Li was among a number of medical professionals in Wuhan who tried to
warn colleagues and others when the government did not, The New York
Times reported earlier this week. It said that after the mystery illness
had stricken seven patients at a hospital, Li said of them in an online
chat group Dec. 30: "Quarantined in the emergency department."

Another participant in the chat responded by wondering, "Is SARS coming
again?" — a reference to the 2002-03 viral outbreak that killed
hundreds, the newspaper said.

Wuhan health officials summoned Li in the middle of the night to demand
he explain why he shared the information, and police later forced him to
sign a statement admitting to "illegal behavior," the Times said.

"If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier,"
Li said in an interview in the Times via text messages, "I think it
would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and
transparency."

A baby born last Saturday in Wuhan and confirmed positive just 36 hours
after birth became the youngest known person infected with the virus,
authorities said. But precisely how the child became infected was unclear.

"The baby was immediately separated from the mother after the birth and
has been under artificial feeding. There was no close contact with the
parents, yet it was diagnosed with the disease," Zeng Lingkong, director
of neonatal diseases at Wuhan Children's Hospital, told Chinese TV.

Zeng said other infected mothers have given birth to babies who tested
negative, so it is not yet known if the virus can be transmitted in the
womb.

China finished building a second new hospital Thursday to isolate and
treat patients — a 1,500-bed center in Wuhan. Earlier this week, another
rapidly constructed, 1,000-bed hospital in Wuhan with prefabricated
wards and isolation rooms began taking patients.

Authorities also moved people with milder symptoms into makeshift
hospitals at sports arenas, exhibition halls and other public spaces.

All together, more than 50 million people are under virtual quarantine
in hard-hit Hubei province in an unprecedented — and unproven — bid to
bring the outbreak under control.

In Hong Kong, hospital workers demanding a shutdown of the territory's
border with mainland China were still on strike. The territory's leader
Carrie Lam announced a 14-day quarantine of all travelers entering the
city from the mainland starting Saturday, but the government has refused
to seal the border entirely. Taiwan has said it will refuse entry to all
non-citizens or residents who have recently visited Hong Kong, Macao or
China beginning Friday.

Testing of a new antiviral drug was set to begin on a group of patients
Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The drug,
Remdesivir, is made by U.S. biotech company Gilead Sciences.

 >From Europe to Australia and the U.S., universities that host Chinese

students or have study-abroad programs are scrambling to assess the
risks, and some are canceling opportunities and prohibiting student travel.

Central banks in the Philippines and Thailand have cut their interest
rates to fend off economic damage from the outbreak in China, the
world's second-biggest economy, with 1.4 billion people. China is a
major source of tourists in Asia, and corporations around the world
depend on its factories to supply products and its consumers to buy them.

The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics again sought to allay fears that
the 2020 Games could be postponed or canceled because of the crisis.  ___

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Foster Klug in
Yokohama, Japan, contributed to this report.

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