Published June 22. 2021 8:09PM
Eva Dou, The Washington Post
In May 2019, the Wuhan Institute of Virology s staff filed into an old-fashioned lecture hall. A local representative of China s National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets was at the lectern.
The official, Tang Kaihong, discussed the national security risks of the institute s research and warned of infiltration efforts by foreign spies, according to an account published by the institute s parent organization, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The researchers signed pledges to protect confidential information.
The Wuhan lab has drawn global scrutiny because of its research on bat coronaviruses in the city where the pandemic began. The events have shined a light on a research niche that in China, the United States and elsewhere operates with heightened secrecy because of the national security risks of handling deadly pathogens.