WEBVTT 00:01.966 --> 00:04.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: That party Congress in Beijing where the Hong Kong proposal was made had 00:04.766 --> 00:09.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% been postponed from March, as China battled the coronavirus. 00:09.466 --> 00:14.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% The Trump administration has highlighted the possibility that COVID-19 was accidentally 00:16.466 --> 00:19.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% released from a Chinese lab by Chinese scientists. That accusation is unproven. 00:21.700 --> 00:25.533 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% But, as Nick Schifrin reports, questions of science have challenged U.S.-China collaboration 00:27.100 --> 00:30.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and given way to increased confrontation. 00:30.000 --> 00:35.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: It feels like a descent into the heart of darkness, Chinese virus hunters 00:40.066 --> 00:45.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in Wuhan looking for coronaviruses in bats in a video posted as the pandemic began. 00:47.033 --> 00:51.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Scientist Tian Junhua acknowledges in narration, there are serious risks. 00:51.500 --> 00:54.366 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% TIAN JUNHUA, Virus Hunter (through translator): Because when you find the viruses, you are 00:54.366 --> 00:57.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% also most easily exposed to the viruses. 00:57.233 --> 01:02.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: Tian says he hunts for viruses to create vaccines, before viruses can hunt 01:04.133 --> 01:07.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% people. And the promotional video ends with a brag, how many viruses Chinese scientists 01:07.733 --> 01:09.833 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% have discovered. 01:09.833 --> 01:13.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% It may seem shocking, but it's normal work for virus hunters the world over. And Chinese 01:15.166 --> 01:17.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% scientists have been trained by the West. 01:17.233 --> 01:20.266 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% PETER DASZAK, President, EcoHealth Alliance: We're working in caves across Southern China 01:20.266 --> 01:25.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to found out where the risk is highest and who is at most risk of this new disease. 01:25.066 --> 01:29.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: Peter Daszak is the head of New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, which received 01:29.466 --> 01:33.400 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Bush, Obama, and Trump administration funding to research in China. 01:33.400 --> 01:38.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% "PBS NewsHour" filmed him five years ago with our partner Global Health Frontiers, as he 01:40.433 --> 01:43.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% tried to improve defenses to viruses that jump from animals to humans, like SARS-CoV-2, 01:44.666 --> 01:46.733 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% the virus that causes COVID-19. 01:46.733 --> 01:49.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% PETER DASZAK: And what we're trying to do is to say, what's the next one coming along, 01:49.366 --> 01:54.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and can we stop it before it evolves into a very lethal human pathogen? 01:56.333 --> 01:59.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: To that work, Tian works in a Wuhan lab and received one of the first 02:00.866 --> 02:03.700 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% live samples of SARS-CoV-2 on December 26. 02:03.700 --> 02:08.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% He and Chinese colleagues wrote one of the first papers about a COVID-19 patient. In 02:08.633 --> 02:13.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% fact, in the last weeks of December, teams of Chinese scientists collect dozens of SARS-CoV-2 02:15.566 --> 02:18.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% strains to share online. And Chinese scientists submitted the first full genome after just 02:18.733 --> 02:20.766 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% two weeks of work. 02:20.766 --> 02:25.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% That's incredibly fast, a sign of how far Chinese scientists have come, says Gregory 02:25.266 --> 02:29.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Gray, an infectious disease epidemiologist who's worked with Chinese scientists since 02:29.333 --> 02:31.766 align:left position:40% line:89% size:50% 2011. 02:31.766 --> 02:34.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% DR. GREGORY GRAY, Infectious Disease Epidemiologist: The majority of scientists I work with are 02:34.200 --> 02:39.200 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% excellent and often very much Western-trained and Western-thinking. They value truth. 02:41.100 --> 02:44.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: But the Chinese government put a brake on that truth-telling. 02:44.900 --> 02:49.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% On January 1, Wuhan Institute of Virology's director general, Yanyi Wang, messaged her 02:51.933 --> 02:55.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% colleagues, saying the National Health Commission told her the lab's COVID-19 data shall not 02:55.233 --> 03:00.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% be published on social media and shall not be disclosed to the media. 03:00.233 --> 03:05.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And on January 3, the commission sent this document, never posted online, but saved by 03:05.033 --> 03:10.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% researchers, telling labs to destroy COVID-19 samples or send them to the depository institutions 03:11.633 --> 03:14.133 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% designated by the state. 03:14.133 --> 03:17.233 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has repeatedly called that a cover-up. 03:17.233 --> 03:21.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% MIKE POMPEO, U.S. Secretary of State: The party chose to destroy live virus samples, 03:21.733 --> 03:24.300 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% instead of sharing them or asking us to help secure them. 03:24.300 --> 03:28.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Last Friday, the Chinese government admitted to the destruction, but said it was 03:28.533 --> 03:31.100 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% for public safety. 03:31.100 --> 03:33.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% LIU DENGFENG, Chinese National Health Commission (through translator): We released a guideline 03:33.233 --> 03:37.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% on January 3, aiming to prevent biohazards of labs and the occurrence of secondary disasters 03:38.400 --> 03:40.466 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% caused by unknown virus. 03:40.466 --> 03:45.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Those secondary disasters have occurred before. The World Health Organization 03:47.433 --> 03:51.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% says, in 2004, the virus that caused the previous year's SARS epidemic accidentally got out 03:53.133 --> 03:56.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of a Beijing lab, where it was being analyzed by scientists, causing small, brief outbreaks. 03:58.700 --> 04:02.366 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Scientists believe a 1977 influenza epidemic spread after a Russian lab accident. And leaks 04:04.066 --> 04:06.266 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% have even happened in the U.S. 04:06.266 --> 04:10.866 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% WOMAN: We learned today that about 75 government scientists may have been exposed to live anthrax 04:11.766 --> 04:13.733 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% bacteria. 04:13.733 --> 04:15.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: The Trump administration has repeatedly raised the possibility of a lab 04:15.766 --> 04:18.233 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% accident sparking the COVID-19 pandemic. 04:18.233 --> 04:22.033 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% MIKE POMPEO: There's enormous evidence that's that where this began. 04:22.033 --> 04:25.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien added a crucial caveat. 04:25.733 --> 04:28.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ROBERT O'BRIEN, U.S. National Security Adviser: Look, there's certainly the potential it came 04:28.266 --> 04:30.233 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% from the laboratory. 04:30.233 --> 04:33.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Some scientists we interviewed agree the potential exists and worry about 04:33.966 --> 04:36.066 align:left position:30% line:89% size:60% lab security. 04:36.066 --> 04:37.500 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% TIM TREVAN, Biological Safety Expert: There's still this culture of compliance, rather than 04:37.500 --> 04:39.600 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% a culture of safety. 04:39.600 --> 04:43.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Tim Trevan is a biological safety expert. He questions whether the Chinese 04:43.033 --> 04:45.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% government would allow scientists to point out mistakes. 04:45.800 --> 04:50.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% TIM TREVAN: If you have a society where it's extremely hierarchical, and people don't question 04:52.666 --> 04:57.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% their superiors, and, if, on top of that, you have a political system that disappears 04:59.033 --> 05:03.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% whistle-blowers, then it's a very difficult starting point to have a learning organization 05:05.466 --> 05:08.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% where everyone feels safe to speak up when they see things which aren't going right. 05:08.700 --> 05:13.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: But Trevan and other scientists say there is no evidence of a lab leak. And 05:13.333 --> 05:17.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% over the last few decades, the Chinese have dramatically improved their facilities. 05:17.033 --> 05:22.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DR. GREGORY GRAY: There's a lot of scrutiny now. There's video cameras monitoring who 05:24.000 --> 05:27.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% does what. Often, they have rules like we do, where a junior person will have to be 05:28.233 --> 05:30.233 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% partnered with senior personnel. 05:30.233 --> 05:33.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: But the Chinese government has admitted it needs to strengthen biosecurity. 05:33.566 --> 05:38.566 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% WOMAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping says epidemic prevention and control systems must be strengthened. 05:40.566 --> 05:44.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: In February, Xi Jinping announced new biosafety rules. The pro-Communist Party 05:46.100 --> 05:49.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% tabloid Global Times wrote that labs faced chronic inadequate management issues, though 05:49.133 --> 05:52.566 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% denied this had anything to do with COVID-19. 05:52.566 --> 05:57.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% But at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, at the center of many U.S. accusations, Deputy 05:57.133 --> 06:02.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Director Yuan Zhiming wrote a paper about China's lab security last year that admits: 06:04.233 --> 06:07.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% "Most laboratories lack specialized biosafety managers and engineers. This makes it difficult 06:08.666 --> 06:12.466 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% to identify and mitigate potential safety hazards." 06:12.466 --> 06:17.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% The U.S. argues, the Chinese government must allow Chinese scientists to voice those concerns 06:20.033 --> 06:22.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% as a matter of life and death, as Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger put it, quoting 06:23.933 --> 06:26.266 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% a famous Chinese writer in mandarin. 06:26.266 --> 06:31.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% "Those with the fortitude to seek and speak the truth in China today may take comfort 06:33.266 --> 06:37.100 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% in something Lu Xun wrote: Lies written in ink can never disguise facts written in blood." 06:39.633 --> 06:44.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% For Xi Jinping, today's meeting is designed to project and ensure national unity. He has 06:46.233 --> 06:48.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% centralized authority. And that's affected even the scientists. 06:48.800 --> 06:53.266 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% DR. GREGORY GRAY: Some of our best collaborators come from Beijing and from one of the leading 06:53.266 --> 06:57.533 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% military epidemiological institutions there. 06:57.533 --> 07:02.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And in the last few years, there's been more scrutiny with respect to me going, visiting 07:04.500 --> 07:09.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% them in their facilities. Their availability has been somewhat reduced. And so I attribute 07:10.566 --> 07:13.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% it to sort of a consolidation of power of Xi Jinping. 07:13.900 --> 07:18.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: But it goes both ways. The Trump administration ended Peter Daszak's 07:18.133 --> 07:21.500 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% grant to work with Chinese scientists. 07:21.500 --> 07:24.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Collaboration is eroding, as the two countries increase confrontation. 07:24.700 --> 07:27.366 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.