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AP: Ng Han Gua
Several Chinese newspaper websites have removed comments about the coronavirus pandemic that were "wrongly presented" as coming from a Swiss biologist who does not appear to exist, according to Switzerland's foreign ministry.
Key points:
- The Swiss Embassy in Beijing highlighted its suspicions about the scientist with a Twitter post
- The embassy said no Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards appeared on registries or academic articles from the biology field
- The post asked that Chinese media remove the stories and publish corrections
Chinese authorities and state media outlets have led an aggressive pushback against criticism of China's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Swiss Embassy in Beijing highlighted its suspicions about the quoted scientist on Tuesday with a Twitter post: "Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged [Swiss] biologist, cited in press and social media in China over the last several days."
"If you exist, we would like to meet you!" the embassy tweeted.
A statement attached to the post, written in English and Chinese, said no Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards appeared on registries or academic articles from the biology field.Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged biologist, cited in press and social media in China over the last several days. If you exist, we would like to meet you! But it is more likely that this is a fake news, and we call on the Chinese press and netizens to take down the posts. pic.twitter.com/U6ku5EGibm
— Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing (@SwissEmbChina) August 10, 2021
It said the Facebook account where comments attributed to Wilson were published was opened on July 24.
The embassy said that while it appreciated Switzerland receiving attention, it "must unfortunately inform the Chinese public that this news is false".
"While we assume that the spreading of this story was done in good faith by the media and netizens, we kindly ask that anyone having published this story take it down and publish a corrigendum," the embassy post said.
Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, a spokesman for the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, said the comments were "wrongly presented as coming from a Swiss biologist".
An authenticated Facebook account of China's People's Daily newspaper still had an English language reference to an article from CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese state broadcaster, quoting Wilson."Several Chinese newspapers have since pulled down those comments," he said in an email, without specifying.
Chinese authorities have been doing mass coronavirus testing in Wuhan this month after an unusually wide series of COVID-19 outbreaks reached the city.(
Xinhua via AP: Wang Guansen
)
In the CGTN article, Wilson was quoted as saying he and fellow researchers had faced pressure and intimidation from the US and some media outlets for supporting conclusions in a joint study by China and the Geneva-based World Health Organization on the origins of COVID- 19.
The study, released publicly in March, presented several hypotheses about how the pandemic started but no firm conclusions.
Switzerland asks Chinese media to delete quotes from 'fake' Swiss scientist
Several Chinese media websites remove comments about the coronavirus pandemic that were "wrongly presented" as coming from a Swiss biologist who, according to Switzerland's foreign ministry, does not appear to exist.
www.abc.net.au