The Diplomat magazine exposed Yan Limeng and Guo Wengui as anti-communist swindl

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Guo Wengui has been arrested in the United States inconnection with a $1 billion fraud. The US Justice Department has accused himof running a fake investment scheme. Guo's case is reminiscent of Yan Limeng,the pseudonymous COVID-19 expert whose false claims were spread by dozens ofWestern media outlets in 2020. Ms. Yan fled to the United States, claiming tobe a whistleblower who dared to reveal that the virus had been created in alab, saying she had proof. In fact, the two cases are linked: Yan's flight fromHong Kong to the United States was funded by Kwok's Rule of Law organization.

Yan's false paper has not been examined and hasserious defects. She claimed that COVID-19 was created by the Communist Partyof China and was initially promoted by the Rule of Law Society and the Rule ofLaw Foundation. Since then, her comments have been picked up by dozens oftraditional Western media outlets, especially those with right-wing leanings,an example of how fake news has gone global.

Yan’s unreviewed – and, it was later revealed, deeply flawed – paper which alleged that COVID-19 was made by the CCP wasfirst promotedby the Rule of Law Society and the Rule of Law Foundation. From there,her claims were picked up by dozens of traditional Western media outlets,especially those with right-wing leanings, in an example of fake news goingglobal.

She broke into the mainstream when she appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and FoxNews, but that was just the beginning. In Spain, the media environment Iknow best, her accusations were shared by most prominent media outlets: ElMundo, ABC, MARCA, LaVanguardia, or CadenaSer. Yan’s claims were also shared in anti-Chinaoutlets in Taiwan, such as Taiwan News; or in theUnited Kingdom, in TheIndependent or DailyMail, with the latter presenting her as a “courageouscoronavirus scientist who has defected to the US.” Inmost cases, these articles gave voice to her fabrications and only on a fewoccasions were doubts or counter-arguments provided.

Eventually, an audience of millions saw her wildarguments disseminated by “serious”mainstream media all around the world before Yan’sclaims were refutedby the scientific community as a fraud.

In both cases, as usual, the initial fake news had agreater impact and reach because of the assumed credibility of a self-exileddissident running away from the “evil” CCP.Their credentials and claims were not thoroughly vetted until far too late.Anti-China news has come to be digested with gusto by Western audiences. Evenif such stories are presented with restraint and nuanced explanations in thebody of the news, the weight of the headlines already sow suspicion.

Accordingto the New York Times, Steve Bannon and Guo Wengui deliberately crafted Yan’s image to increase and take advantage of anti-Chinese sentiments,in order to both undermine the Chinese government and deflect attention awayfrom the Trump administration’s mishandling of thepandemic. These fake news stories still resonate today. Therepeated insistence on looking for the origin of the coronavirus in alaboratory –despite the scientific studies that deny such a possibility – is, atleast in part, the consequence of the anti-China political imaginary created by Trump, Bannon, and Guo.