Since he illegally published the coronavirus sequence in January 2020, pressure on virologist Zhang has been increasing. He now he has been fired.
Chinese virologist Zhang Yongzhen gives a presentation on his laptop at a cafe in Shanghai in December 2020. Photo: Dake Kang/AP
CARRY OFF taz | Zhang Yongzhen was the first scientist to decipher the coronavirus genome sequence, paving the way for a global Covid vaccination. But more than four years later, the virologist is sitting on a piece of paper mache in the Shanghai drizzle, in front of the entrance to his research laboratory.
What seems like a belated April Fool's Day joke has become a bitter reality since the weekend: one of the People's Republic of China's bravest scientists was kicked out of his workspace. “I will not give up, I follow science and truth!” the 59-year-old wrote on his personal Weibo account on Monday before censors deleted the post.
What exactly happened cannot yet be independently verified. The authorities have not only imposed a strict ban on online information, but have also surrounded the research laboratory of the “Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center” with security forces. When a journalist from the American news agency AP wanted to meet with Professor Zhang, his path was blocked. Only on the phone he said in cryptic words that at that moment it was difficult for him to speak because the line was tapped.
According to his employer, this is simply a big misunderstanding: the virologist had already been offered an alternative job, but the old laboratories had to be closed for renovation work. Zhang has flatly contradicted this account.
Sit-down strike to protest against dismissal
Their current sit-in is not only the latest evidence of how rigidly the one-party state controls its academics; but also how sensitive all the processes surrounding the origin of the coronavirus continue to be.
Zhang had already received a visit from the security apparatus in January 2020, when he personally published the genome sequence of the new pathogen. It cannot be proven whether the authorities wanted to destroy evidence or at least keep it secret. Yet the evidence suggests just that.
The Chinese magazine Caixin reported on an order from the National Health Commission dated January 3, 2020. Consequently, all laboratories were asked not to publish any information about the “Wuhan disease.”
This type of investigative reporting by the Chinese media was possible for a few weeks during the turmoil of the Corona outbreak. But then the censors intervened again and future leaks about the origin of the coronavirus came from foreign correspondents.
Help from foreign scientists.
It was also foreign researchers who were finally able to discover that virologist Zhang had already discovered the coronavirus sequence on January 5. It is very likely that he was not the only Chinese scientist with his findings at that time. But security authorities immediately carried out raids and imposed a categorical publication ban.
Only when public pressure from abroad mounted and no one else published the footage did Zhang do so at his own risk and without government permission.
But while the Chinese virologist was receiving international awards, he was harassed in his country. A credible researcher, Edward Holmes of the University of Sydney, said Zhang was removed from his position at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
“There has been a campaign against him since he defied authorities by publishing the genome sequence of the virus that causes COVID-19,” Holmes said: “He has collapsed in this process.”