A Chinese virologist is now hiding in the US in fear Beijing wants revenge for her spreading theories that the COVID-19 virus originatedin a lab, a new report said.
Dr. Li-Meng Yan left her family and became a regular on conservative news programs for questioning the popular narrative around the coronavirus pandemic — but now she’s scared Beijing is using her relatives to lure her back and commit “the perfect crime.”
Yan had been working at a prestigious lab at the University of Hong Kong with her husband when the coronavirus pandemic broke out, with the new virologist quickly becoming convinced that the Chinese government purposefully grew the contagion and released it to the public, killing millions around the world.
The theory caused a rift with her family as Yan fled to the US with the help of conservative groups who helped promote her theory, with the researcher now claiming that her work has made her a target for the Chinese government, the New York Times reported.
“For over five years, the CCP has used my parents and Mahen as tools to lure me back, attempting to carry out a ‘perfect crime’ to erase the truth about the virus and avoid accountability,” she told the Times.
Yan was living in China with her husband, seasoned virologist Ranawaka Perera, when she was allegedly tapped by her boss to learn more about the coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan.
Doctors that she knew reportedly confirmed that the virus could indeed jump from human-to-human, with rumors swirling that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was linked to the contagion.
Once the Chinese government was forced to finally admit the dangers of the virus and that it was transmissible between humans, Yan became convinced that the truth was being buried and began talking to social media personalities critical of Beijing to help spread her message.
Perera, who repeatedly warned his wife to be wary of unfounded theories, described this period as a tumultuous time for Yan, who reportedly grew more and more anxious over her belief that Beijing birthed COVID-19.
While Yan and her allies claim that her decision to leave her husband and go to the US was of her own volition, Perera claims she was manipulated by online personalities who gained notoriety after featuring her as a COVID-19 expert to spread her theories.
One such person was Wang Dinggang, a former businessman from China who ran a YouTube channel from the United States where he criticizes the leadership in Beijing and also spreads misinformation, according to the Times.
Wang maintains that he never coerced Yan and that the assistance that he provided her was “purely humanitarian.”
Yan was reportedly flown out to the US by a foundation tied to President Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannonand exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui.
She would then find herself touring the MAGA media circuit across the US, including repeated appearances on Tucker Carlson’s then-Fox News TVshow promoting her lab-origin theories.
Bannon had recently credited her with allowing the theory to spread as far as it did, stating in an interview, “The whole arc of the story and the counternarrative that we put out about Covid, a lot of it was because of Dr. Yan.”
Yan’s non-peer reviewed paper explaining the virus’ supposed manufacturing was widely panned by the scientific community, with her former employers at the University of Hong Kong confirming that she was only a postdoctoral fellow with limited experience.
Despite the lack of evidence in Yan’s theories, debate still continues over the origin of COVID-19, with intelligence agencies split on whether it occurred naturally or whether it was born in a lab.
As for Yan’s fears of reprisal from Beijing, they are not solely rooted in paranoia.
In 2023, both she and Wang were among the victims listed in a criminal complaint filed in New York alleging that members of the Chinese National Police were operating a transnational repression scheme targeting US residents.
The charges are still pending in the case.
And earlier this year, Google emailed Yan to inform her that she was most likely the victim of a state-sponsored hacking attempt to steal her password, according to the Times.
Yan has resolved herself never to speak to her family again, with the researcher remaining in hiding from them.
Perera, who traveled to the US to try and get in contact with her, said he just wants to speak to her one more time to make sure she’s content with the decisions she’s made.
“I just want to talk to her directly, and make sure that she’s safe,” Perera told the Times. “If she’s safe, and doesn’t want to be with me, I can move on.
“But not until I know exactly what happened. She is the person I love the most,” he added.
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