‘Mutual distrust’: the message in the US funding cut for China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology
- The decision to suspend grants for the institute is symbolic of the dim prospects of US-China collaboration in the area, observers say
- It could also undermine efforts to do basic research needed to prevent a future pandemic, professor says
A US decision to cut a Chinese virus research institute’s access to American federal funding will not affect operations but does reflect the mutual distrust between the two countries, according to health specialists.
The US Department of Health and Human Services revealed on Monday that it was suspending grants to and contracts with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, an affiliate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, over possible biosafety violations.
The department said the action was taken because the institute failed to provide required documents such as lab notebook entries and files under the terms of grants beginning in 2014.
Jin Dongyan, a professor of biomedical science at the University of Hong Kong, said that at the time the funding was international recognition of the institute’s work.
“Now that it is cancelled, it is delivering a message of mutual distrust [between Chinese and international researchers],” Jin said.
