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Comment by bad_haircut72 | Hacker News Reader

I feel like were on the same side but youre gonna need a (credible!) source that US govt money was funding virus research in China, that doesnt seem to pass the sniff test

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is this sarcasm? it's been known for years and we got some more "official" info recently

this is the grant, but this was public info for years https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Year-...

No its not sarcasm, thanks for the reference. However since you were rude Im gonna ignore this evidence (this attitude can work for or against Republicans I guess)

I'll be less rude: the US funded virus research in China. Some people argue this was wise because it gave us insight into China's bioweapons plans, or be prepared for world disasters, or whatever. It's still not entirely clear why NIH leadership thought this was a good idea, given our understanding of China's relative immaturity in working with dangerous viruses, as well as preventing that funding from going to US researchers.

I had sorta thought this was a right wing conspiracy, as it seemed so unlikely to be true. I can very clearly understand why the new administration is being ruthless with them now, especially given Trumps experience with Covid (a more enlightened leader might say the buck stopped with him instead of blaming underlings, but I digress). Thanks for replying.

I'm not sure how to interpret what you're saying. NIAID has worked with China for decades, https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/niaid-research-china which spans multiple partisan administrations. I think (but can't find at the moment) that there was a law mandating NIAID work with China to keep up-to-date on evolving biodefense. The complaint is really about the establishment, not decisions from a specific president or party.

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