Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
The origins of the Chinese 'lab leak' theory
The theory that the Wuhan Institute of Virology in eastern China is to blame for Covid-19 is as old as the disease itself — it’s been widely debunked but is now pushed largely by anti-communist cranks and still used by imperialist agitators, explains ROBERT GRIFFITHS
US President Joe Biden has revived Donald Trump's 'lab leak' theory on the origins of Covid-19

ON JANUARY 24 last year, the Washington Times reported: “The deadly animal virus epidemic spreading globally may have originated in a Wuhan laboratory linked to China’s covert biological weapons program, according to an Israeli biological warfare expert.”

Reporter Bill Gertz based his story on a five-year-old broadcast on Radio Free Asia about the Wuhan virology institute and his interview with Dany Shoham, “a former Israeli military intelligence officer who has studied Chinese bio warfare.”

Shoham reckoned the institute was “probably” engaged in research and development linked to a secret Chinese biological weapons programme. Sars and other coronaviruses were “probably” being held at the institute and it was “possible” they were part of this work.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Monument to the heroes of the Long March
Features / 3 November 2025
3 November 2025

STEPHEN BELL reports from a delegation that traced the steps of China’s socialist revolution from its first modest meetings to the Red Army’s epic 9,000km battle to create the modern nation that today defies every capitalist assumption

Erhai lake
Climate Crisis / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

Albertosaurus
Features / 4 July 2025
4 July 2025

200 years since the first dinosaur was described and 25 after its record-breaking predecessor, the BBC has brought back Walking with Dinosaurs. BEN CHACKO assesses what works and what doesn’t