Prominent university bio lab urged to reveal extent of relationship with Wuhan lab at center of coronavirus outbreak

[Renid]

Federal officials are pressing one of the most advanced biocontainment
laboratories in the U.S. to reveal more information relating to their
extensive work and contractual relationship with the Wuhan Institute of
Virology, a new letter from the Department of Education reveals.

The letter, dated April 24 and addressed to the University of Texas
chancellor James Milliken, asks explicitly for disclosures as required
under section 117 of the Higher Education Act.

"Between June 6, 2014, and June 3, 2019, U.T. reported approximately
twenty-four contracts with various Chinese state-owned universities and
ten contracts with Huawei Technologies, all purportedly worth a reported
total of $12,987,896," the letter, signed by Reed D. Rubinstein, principal
deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Education, states. "It
is not clear, however, whether U.T. has, in fact, reported all gifts from
or contracts with or relating to the Wuhan MCL, the Wuhan Institute of
Virology, and/or all other foreign sources, including agents and
instrumentalities of the government of the Peoples' Republic of China."

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"Therefore, to verify U.T.'s compliance with Section 117, the Department
requests that your Institution produce the following records within thirty
(30) days. Unless otherwise noted, the relevant time frame for these
requests is January 1, 2012, through the present," the letter continues.

The GNL, which is part of the University of Texas system, is one of just
14 biosafety level 4 labs in the U.S.

The 2018 agreement provided for the exchange of some of America's most
talented research and national security scientists, in addition to wide-
ranging research sharing — an arrangement that experts say poses serious
national security risks, especially considering the Wuhan lab's burgeoning
scrutiny and linkage to the coronavirus pandemic, formally termed COVID-
19.

CHINA UPS ITS SPY GAME ON US SOIL AS IT BIDS TO CONTROL CORONAVIRUS
NARRATIVE

According to some national security and geopolitical experts, this flags a
cause for steep concern and represents a larger piece of a problematic
puzzle.

"The academic and research exchanges that have opened up more widely with
China [have] reached a tipping point. Beijing [is] exploiting our open
system with our help," said Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair
for the Hudson Institute. "Universities provided unguarded access to
sensitive if unclassified data; American research institutions became hubs
for information collection and the recruitment of spies; and universities
with large numbers of Chinese students engaged in self-censorship lest
they offend the Chinese government."

The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) boasted in a 2018 release about
its work in directing operations of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with
the release reading: "In preparation for the opening of the new China MCL,
we engaged in short- and long-term personnel exchanges focused on
biosafety training, building operations and maintenance, and collaborative
scientific investigations in biocontainment. We succeeded in transferring
proven best practices to the new Wuhan facility."

Specifically, the Department of Education also asks for records and
communications with famed Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli, the so-called
"Batwoman" researcher at the Wuhan Institute.

As it stands, the U.S. government is conducting a comprehensive
investigation into whether or not the novel pathogen, borne out of the
Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, stemmed from a laboratory or a wet
market as the Communist Party (CCP) leadership initially claimed.

The letter affirms that the investigation into U.T.'s China relations is
being directed by the Department's Office of the General Counsel and
cautions that the Department "recognizes that the COVID-19 virus may have
a significant impact on certain U.T. operations. Nonetheless, the critical
importance of the Department's investigation into the accuracy of U.T.'s
foreign source reporting with respect to the Wuhan MCL and other Chinese
Communist Party-related persons and entities is not diminished."

In a statement issued to Fox News late Friday afternoon, the University of
Texas insisted that "each of the institutions within the UT System is
required to complete and submit documentation annually to the Department
of Education reporting gift and contract relationships with foreign
entities, and UT institutions comply with these obligations.

"We will continue to respond to any request from state and federal
authorities, should they arise. As one of the nation’s 14 Bio Safety Level
4 laboratories, the Galveston National Laboratory at UTMB belongs to the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Biodefense
Laboratory Network. It has collaborated with more than 70 countries and
with scientists from the U.S. and abroad on biosafety and biosecurity, as
part of its broad mission to advance global scientific collaboration," the
statement continued. "While it receives no financial support or gifts from
global scientific laboratories, UTMB complies with obligations to report
fiduciary relationships as required by statute."

This is not the first red flag raised when it comes to the relationship
between U.S. universities and China.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/university-texas-biolab-wuhan-connection


daveyboy222

Academia is owned by the Democrat party, as it was owned by the Nazi party
in Germany. The Democrat party is little removed from the Chinese
Communist Party and other dictatorships.