On the Chinese social media platform WeChat, the Global Times wrote a post entitled "Elon Musk, are you breaking the pot of China?" According to CNBC reporter Eunice Yoo, this is a Chinese phrase with a similar meaning to "biting the hand that feeds you."
"Seeing that the so-called 'spy balloon' incident failed to discredit China, those political forces in the United States that are hostile to China have once again hyped the rumor that the new crown virus was leaked from the Wuhan virus in China."
"And Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, a well-known American electric car brand, and now the boss of the 'Twitter' platform… reposted this conspiracy theory that slanders China," the publication wrote.
The CCP-owned outlet was responding to a comment from Musk, who said in reference to Dr. Anthony Fauci, "He did it via a pass-through organization (EcoHealth)." This tweet was in reply to a post from the user "Kanekoa The Great," who questioned whether Fauci was involved in the development of Covid because he had funded "gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab."
The Global Times went on to use the language of American left-wingers, calling the lab leak theory a "right-wing conspiracy."
"But why did Musk get involved in this matter, and followed these anti-intellectual right-wing conspiracy theorists in the United States to make remarks that framed the Wuhan Institute of Virology?," the WeChat post reads.
Musk was simply sharing the theory promoted by the US Department of Energy, which concluded that Covid likely originated from the Wuhan laboratory, according to a classified intelligence report cited by the Wall Street Journal.
On Tuesday, FBI director Christopher Wray confirmed that his agency believes the lab leak hypothesis to be the most probable explanation for the origins of the virus.
