China restricts research into origins of coronavirus
Hong Kong (CNN) - China has imposed restrictions on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus, according to a central government directive and online notices published by two Chinese universities, that have since been removed from the web.
Under
the new policy, all academic papers on Covid-19 will be subject to
extra vetting before being submitted for publication. Studies on the
origin of the virus will receive extra scrutiny and must be approved by
central government officials, according to the now-deleted posts.
A
medical expert in Hong Kong who collaborated with mainland researchers
to publish a clinical analysis of Covid-19 cases in an international
medical journal said his work did not undergo such vetting in February.
The
increased scrutiny appears to be the latest effort by the Chinese
government to control the narrative on the origins of the coronavirus
pandemic, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives and sickened 1.7 million people worldwide since it first broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December.
Since late January, Chinese researchers have published a series of Covid-19 studies
in influential international medical journals. Some findings about
early coronavirus cases -- such as when human-to-human transition first
appeared -- have raised questions over the official government account
of the outbreak and sparked controversy on Chinese social media.
And now, Chinese authorities appear to be tightening their grip on the publication of Covid-19 research.
A
Chinese researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of
retaliation said the move was a worrying development that would likely
obstruct important scientific research.
"I
think it is a coordinated effort from (the) Chinese government to
control (the) narrative, and paint it as if the outbreak did not
originate in China," the researcher told CNN. "And I don't think they
will really tolerate any objective study to investigate the origination
of this disease."
CNN has reached out to China's Foreign Ministry for comment.
Increased scrutiny
According
to the directive issued by the Ministry of Education's science and
technology department, "academic papers about tracing the origin of the
virus must be strictly and tightly managed."
The
directive lays out layers of approval for these papers, starting with
the academic committees at universities. They are then required to be
sent to the Education Ministry's science and technology department,
which then forwards the papers to a task force under the State Council
for vetting. Only after the universities hear back from the task force
can the papers be submitted to journals.
Other
papers on Covid-19 will be vetted by universities' academic committees,
based on conditions such as the "academic value" of the study, and
whether the "timing for publishing" is right.
The
directive is based on instructions issued during a March 25 meeting
held by the State Council's task force on the prevention and control of
Covid-19, it said.
The document was first posted Friday morning on the website of the Fudan University in Shanghai, one of China's leading universities.
When
CNN called a contact number left at the end of the notice, a staff
member of the Education ministry's science and technology department
confirmed they had issued the directive.
"It is not supposed to be made public -- it is an internal document," said the person, who refused to reveal his name.
A few hours later, the Fudan University page was taken down.
The
China University of Geoscience in Wuhan also posted a similar notice
about the extra vetting on Covid-19 papers on its website. The page has
since been deleted, but a cached version of it remains accessible.
The
Chinese researcher who spoke to CNN said the notice was issued a few
days ago, adding that only Covid-19 research was subject to the
additional checks.
David Hui
Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at the Chinese University of
Hong Kong, said he did not encounter any additional vetting when he and a
team of mainland Chinese researchers published a clinical analysis of Covid-19 cases in the New England Journal of Medicine in February.
"The process was really simple then," he told CNN over the phone.
Hui
said he was still revising the draft of the paper until 3 a.m. on the
day it was due for submission, and the paper was sent to the NEJM by
midday.
"There was completely no restriction at all," he said.
"I
don't know if it is because some researchers published something that
is considered sensitive domestically in China. (I'm) not sure if it is
because of the controversy about the origin of the virus later, and the
non-sensitive stuff becomes sensitive too."
Origin of the virus
In
late December, Wuhan reported the first cases of the coronavirus,
linked by authorities to a seafood market in the city. Scientists in
China and the West have said the virus is likely to have originated in
bats and jumped to humans from an intermediate host -- just like its
cousin that caused the SARS epidemic in 2002 and 2003.
However,
parts of Chinese social media and even the country's government appear
to have launched a concerted campaign to question the origin of the
virus.
Chinese officials and state
media have repeatedly stressed that there has been no conclusion on the
exact origin of the virus. Last month, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of
the Chinese Foreign Ministry, promoted a conspiracy on Twitter that the virus had originated in the US and was brought to China by the US military.
Yanzhong
Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Washington-based
Council on Foreign Relations, said the origin of the coronavirus has
become a politically sensitive topic in China.
"It
is no surprise that the government seeks to control related scientific
research so that the findings do not challenge its own narrative on the
origin of the virus and the government response to the crisis,"
Professor Huang told CNN.
"The
danger is that when scientific research is subject to the needs of those
in power, it further undermines the credibility of the government
narrative, making accusations of underreporting and misinformation more
convincing."
In China, research
papers on the coronavirus are already subjected to layers of vetting
after they are submitted to Chinese academic journals, according to an
editor at a Chinese medical journal.
Wang
Lan, the editorial director of the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology,
said all Covid-19 papers have to go through an approval process for
"major topics" after being submitted to her journal.
"It has always been the case," she told CNN. "They have to be approved by three levels of organizations. It's a long process."
The
Chinese researcher who requested anonymity said under the new
restrictions, however, coronavirus research that contradicted the
official narrative could be suppressed by Beijing.
"I
think the importance is that the international scientific community
must realize that any journal or manuscripts from (a) Chinese research
institution has kind of been double-checked by the government," said the
researcher. "It is important for them to know there are extra steps
between independent scientific research and final publication."
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