CHINA has received more than $27million worth of US taxpayer money for scientific experiments and studies over the last ten years.
The US Sun can reveal the staggering sum of at least $27,243,543 has been sent directly to institutions, labs and universities in the Communist Party state since 2010.
Our investigation revealed that the astonishing amount of money has been sent overseas by the National Institutes for Health – the US taxpayer-funded government agency responsible for health research.
And from its yearly budgets of up to $40billion a slice was sent that was sent across China for various different experiments and research projects.
It comes as the agency already came under fire last year after it was revealed to have released funds which were funneled to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
NIH data shows Chinese institutions received as much as $2million per year across multiple grants, according to publicly available data filed on the department's Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools system.
Cash handed out included sums of $88,686 and $93,316 to investigate drug use among female prostitutes in China.
Others included a sum of $50,066 for experiments on human fear which involved showing people scary images in a study by Peking University, and $53,460 to study depression in Chinese care home residents.
Institutions which have approval to carry out animal testing also received funding, such as Peking University, Fudan University and Wuhan University.
China received the most from the US in 2010 and 2011 with $4.5million and $4.1million.
And the Communist state received $1million last year – despite tensions between the US and China over the pandemic.
Taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll this reckless spending
Meanwhile, WIV is the biolab at the centre of controversy amid allegations of a possible Covid lab leak – and Republicans are currently leading a charge to make sure the lab never gets US funding again.
The $27million uncovered by The US Sun does not include the money sent to WIV, as that was channeled to the lab from a larger grant given to the US-based EcoHealth Alliance.
The lab still has approval to receive funds from the US until at least 2024,and White House secretary Jen Psaki said they are not aware of any funding planned to be sent to WIV.
NIH funding sent to China 2010-2020
THE US Sun found more than $27million of funding has been sent to China from NIH over the past ten years.
- 2010 – $4.5million
- 2011 – $4.1million
- 2012- $2.9million
- 2013 – $2.8million
- 2014 – $1.5million
- 2015 – $3million
- 2016 – $1.6million
- 2017 – $2.9million
- 2018 – $1.4million
- 2019 – $942,000
- 2020 – $1million
Anthony Bellotti, president of taxpayer watchdog group White Coat Waste, told The US Sun: "Shipping millions of US tax dollars to the dangerous Wuhan animal lab and other facilities in China where there’s no real transparency and accountability about how the money is spent is a recipe for disaster.
"Taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll this reckless spending and new polls show that a majority of Democrat and Republican voters in the US want to restrict funding for animal labs in China and other foreign countries."
Relations between the US and China remain strained as President Joe Biden's administration has refused to accept findings branded a "whitewash" from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which appear to exonerate China over Covid's origins.
US intelligence officials have insisted for the past year that they have compelling evidence that the virus which has killed 500,000 Americans may have escaped from WIV.
Last week, some 28 members of Congress sent a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services inspector general demand a "prompt and thorough" investigation of NIH's relationship with WIV.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a Pennsylvania Republican, also introduced legislation to defund the EcoHealth Alliance – a nonprofit run by WHO investigator Dr Peter Daszak, which had a longstanding relationship with WIV.
The organisation is also known to have scooped around $750,000 in taxpayer funding as part of the Covid bailout package.
Rep. Reschenthaler told The US Sun: "It is unconscionable that the National Institutes of Health sent US taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a facility linked to military biological research and the Chinese Communist Party.
"I’m proud to join my colleagues in requesting an investigation into the NIH’s disturbing relationship with WIV.
"I have also introduced legislation to block funding to EcoHealth Alliance and prevent Americans’ hard-earned money from funding dangerous experimentation in foreign labs with a track record of safety concerns and run by the military of our adversaries.”
WIV has been suggested since the outbreak of the pandemic to be key part of the Covid origin story as it specializes in bat coronaviruses and was holding the virus which is closest known to Covid-19.
China and the lab have always furiously denied any allegations of a possible leak, and WHO appeared to agree with them as they wrapped up their probe in Wuhan.
However, the White House has said it has "deep concerns" over the investigation which was carried out in a tightly managed fashion alongside China.
Scientists who were on the team have already broken cover and revealed China did not hand over all the data they requested, and there was always "politics in the room".
Professor John Watson, who was part of the WHO team that travelled to Wuhan, insisted the leak hypothesis remains on the table and confessed the mission may not have had the proper expertise to fully investigate the lab.
He said additional investigations were needed to look at a potential leak from WIV "in more detail" when he appeared on the BBC.
"That's a hypothesis that remains on the table and could certainly have further work done on it," Prof Watson said.
It was a break from lead investigator Dr Peter Ben Embarek who said the theory would not be recommended for "future studies" and was considered "extremely unlikely".
WHO investigators and their Chinese counterparts appeared to offer more questions than answers when they revealed their findings in a three hour press conference last month.
The joint event offered many explanations and theories on the origins of the virus – but the only one seemingly dismissed was the lab leak.
Documents already revealed Beijing downplayed the bug to "protect its image", and there have been repeated allegations that China has manipulated its death and case figures.
And last month, new docs released by the US revealed scientists in Wuhan fell ill with Covid-like symptoms in late 2019 – months before the pandemic began to ravage the world.
The US Sun has contacted NIH for comment and asked if there will be any changes to their funding policies post-pandemic.
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