2021/05/12 10:48 CANBERRA, Australia (AP) A Chinese-born political adviser on Wednesday lost his challenge in Australia’s highest court against laws banning covert foreign interference in domestic politics. John Shi Sheng Zhang also lost his High Court challenge to the validity of search warrants executed by police at his Sydney home and offices last year as part of an investigation into illegal foreign interference. Zhang was an adviser to New South Wales state lawmaker Shaoquett Moselmane, whose membership in the opposition Labor Party was suspended after he was also the target of police raids. The raids in June 2020 were the first police investigation to grab public attention since the foreign interference laws came into force in 2018 and the government bolstered funding to security agencies in late 2019 to enforce them.
Highlights
Most scientists have said there is no evidence that COVID-19 is manmade
Questions, however, remain if it may have escaped from a secretive biolab in Wuhan, from where the pandemic originated
China is known to have been carrying out high-risk gain of function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)
London/Melbourne: Amid the ongoing second surge of COVID-19 pandemic, reports say that the US State Department has obtained documents referring Chinese military scientists allegedly investigated weaponising coronaviruses five years before the coronavirus and may have predicted a World War III fought with biological weapons.
According to The Sun newspaper in the UK, quoting reports first released by The Australian , the bombshell documents obtained by the US State Department reportedly show the Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders making the sinister prediction.
London/Melbourne, May 10
Chinese military scientists allegedly investigated weaponising coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic and may have predicted a World War III fought with biological weapons, according to media reports referring to documents obtained by the US State Department.
According to ‘The Sun newspaper in the UK, quoting reports first released by ‘The Australian , the “bombshell” documents obtained by the US State Department reportedly show the Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders making the sinister prediction.
US officials allegedly obtained the papers which were written by military scientists and senior Chinese public health officials in 2015 as part of their own investigation into the origins of COVID-19.
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File Image: This photo taken on 28 April 2021 shows a medical staff member preparing a dose for a university student to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 coronavirus at a university in Wuhan, in China s central Hubei province (AFP via Getty Images)
China has attempted to play down the so-called “leaked documents” which have been used to suggest that its scientists discussed the weaponisation of coronavirus five years before the Covid-19 pandemic began.
While officials are yet to issue a statement on the matter, the state-run
The Australian for their report calling it “an embarrassing article that smears China over the origins of Covid-19”.
China investigated weaponising coronaviruses in 2015: Reports
Chinese military scientists allegedly probed the weaponising of coronaviruses in 2015, according to global media reports which draw on documents obtained by the US State Department.
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UPDATED: May 10, 2021 00:17 IST
China allegedly investigated weaponising of coronaviruses in 2015, according to global media reports. (Photo: File image for representation)
Chinese military scientists allegedly investigated weaponising coronaviruses five years before the Covid-19 pandemic and may have predicted a World War III fought with biological weapons, according to media reports referring to documents obtained by the US State Department.
According to ‘The Sun’ newspaper in the UK, quoting reports first released by ‘The Australian’, the “bombshell” documents obtained by the US State Department reportedly show the Chinese People s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders making the sinister prediction.