Xi Jinping's Mouthpiece Warns Elon Musk Against Pushing China COVID-19 Lab Leak Theory

Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is in the crosshairs of Xi Jinping-led China’s state-run media after sharing an assessment that the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins lie in a Wuhan laboratory. 

What Happened: Eunice Yoon, CNBC’s Beijing Bureau Chief, cited a report from China’s Global Times newspaper on Twitter. 

“Some may think @elonmusk made those remarks only to attack Fauci,” @globaltimesnews reads. But the posts he reposted “almost all link the origins of #Covid19 to China and the argument is repeatedly used by the US right wing and anti-China media hostile to China to frame #China.”

— Eunice Yoon (@onlyyoontv) February 28, 2023

Yoon said the report asked Musk if he was “breaking the pot of China,” a reference to “biting the hand that feeds you.”

The CNBC reporter highlighted that the Chinese media didn’t consider Musk’s remarks as an attack against the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci alone.

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Why It Matters: The Global Times accused Musk not only of reposting the conspiracy theory surrounding Fauci but also of “slandering” China.

It noted that Musk has been moving closer to right-wing forces in the United States in recent years.

It was reported earlier that the U.S. Energy Department said with “low confidence” that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19, which transformed into a major global pandemic in 2020.

Musk has taken a number of jibes at Fauci including once declaring his pronouns to be “Prosecute/Fauci.”

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Photo by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr