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Congressman John Rose: The Chinese Communist Party has covered up the truth about the origins of the coronavirus and Big Tech was complicit.

July 30, 2021

Earlier this month, we celebrated the 245th anniversary of American independence. The United States continues to be a symbol of freedom across the globe, known for our personal liberties, free markets, drive for innovation, and promotion of enterprise. However, malign actors, specifically China, are working to see us fall.

To respond to an increasingly aggressive China, the Trump Administration pioneered a "Tough on China" policy, marking a major shift in U.S. policy from cooperation and engagement to transparent competition. He imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, ended academic exchanges, sanctioned Chinese officials, and placed certain Chinese companies on a U.S. investment blacklist. And while President Biden has vowed to be equally tough on China – we are not seeing bold actions in the wake of their involvement in the global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

The evidence of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) denial, distortion, and concealment of the coronavirus pandemic from its critical beginning to present day is overwhelming. In January 2020, if not before, the CCP knew it was dealing with a fast-spreading disease in Wuhan but rejected transparency in favor of a massive propaganda campaign to spread disinformation.

From manipulated statistics and the prevention of an investigation by international experts to ousted journalists and whistleblowers who were silenced through intimidation and foul play—there are countless examples of how the CCP lied to the rest of the world about the origins of the pandemic.

Prominent epidemiologists and biologists have raised concerns about a possible spillover in the Wuhan lab, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says it's ‘possible' COVID could have leaked ‘from a lab.' On top of that, it was recently reported that three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became ill with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and sought hospital care in November 2019. Yet, China has not been forthright in sharing information, nor have they cooperated with the United States or the global community. Compounding the problem, big tech platforms appear to have been complicit in this cover up. For example, in December 2020, shortly after medical professionals and infectious disease specialists testified before the U.S. Senate on the effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments, Google's YouTube removed the testimony from their online platform.

Like many Tennesseans, I am deeply angered about the avoidable loss of life resulting from the CCP's actions. They and their conspirators must be held accountable. I was proud to join GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and 210 of my House Republican colleagues in urging Speaker Pelosi to launch an investigation into the origin of COVID-19 and the role of the CCP.

The Chinese government's malign behavior does not begin nor end at the cover up of the origins of COVID-19. For years, their Communist government has undermined American freedom, democracy, and basic human rights, as well as our free and open markets. The CCP continues to engage in a brutal form of aggression against the Uighurs located in its Xinjiang province where they are arbitrarily detaining many in formal prisons and detention centers, and have subjected detainees to forced labor, torture, political indoctrination, and other severe human rights abuses.

Their unscrupulous, multidimensional tactics to destroy America and engage in human rights abuses cannot be tolerated. I will be working with my colleagues in Congress to hold the CCP legally and financially responsible for the human and economic suffering its Communist government has caused and take significant steps to counter the CCP's destructive activity moving forward - including the over 400 recommendations already put forward by the Republican-led China Task Force.

To ignore the CCP's blatant disregard for basic human rights, our environment, and way of life would be un-American. The CCP must be held accountable, and now is the time to take action.