Special to WorldTribune, November 28, 2023
Commentary by Laurence F Sanford
In December 2022, an illegal Chinese-owned bio lab in Reedley, California, was discovered when city code enforcement officer Jesalyn Harper noted a garden hose protruding from a supposedly unoccupied warehouse. When Ms. Harper first inspected the building, she found numerous building code violations and three employees from the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Ms. Harper reported the case to Fresno County and the FBI.
In March of 2023, the FBI informed Harper that it had closed its investigation because the “Bureau believed that there were no weapons of mass destruction on the property.”
Local officials then obtained an inspection warrant and searched the warehouse. They found blood and tissue samples and other biological materials, raising fears of possible pathogens. The warehouse also housed nearly 1,000 lab mice, which lab workers said were designed to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.
Who does one call with such information?
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) hung up and ignored repeated telephone calls for help from Fresno officials. Only when Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) called did the CDC finally inspect the building in May. They detected at least 20 potentially infectious agents, such as HIV, COVID-19, chlamydia, TB, rubella, and malaria, based only on reading container labels.
Unbelievably, the CDC did not test the pathogens even though city officials offered to pay for the tests. Furthermore, the CDC left a freezer with Ebola in it.
The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issued a report in November on the Reedley bio lab that noted the CDC‘s response was unacceptable. The CDC failed to test the pathogens and left it up to local officials to dispose of the materials. Over 100 tons of hazardous materials were eventually destroyed, with no help from the CDC, which is supposed to be responsible for “disease control.”
The report concluded, "Even though it had not tested any samples from the Reedley Lab, the CDC concluded that ‘there was no evidence of select agents or toxins.” (This is the same CDC that concluded the Wuhan Virus (COVID-19) originated in a food market and not in the Wuhan laboratory, partially funded with U.S. tax dollars.)
The illegal and unregistered lab in California was owned by Jia Bei “Jesse” Zhu, who entered the U.S. under the alias of Qiang “David” He in 2021. Zhu had been a top official in a CCP state-controlled company with links to military-civil fusion entities. The illegal lab received more than $1.3 million in unexplained wire transfers from PRC banks.
Prestige Biotech (PB), a Chinese medical company registered in Nevada, was operating the illegal facility in Reedley. It had assumed the assets from defunct Universal Meditech as a creditor. Authorities were unable to locate any California business addresses associated with PB. Other addresses provided by PB were either empty offices or were located in China.
Not only was Zhu operating in the U.S. under an alias, but he was also a fugitive from Canada with a $330 million dollar judgment for stealing American intellectual property on cattle breeding technologies. He was arrested in October 2023 for “manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices and for making false statements to the Food and Drug Administration.”
Summary
Federal agencies, from the FBI to Immigration to the CDC, demonstrated incompetence and dereliction of duty in the Reedley lab case.
⦁ The FBI was derelict in their duty in closing the case, claiming there were no weapons of mass destruction. So what does one call Ebola and COVID-19, which killed over 6 million people?
⦁ Immigration incompetence allowed Zhu into the U.S. under a different name, with a Canadian fugitive warrant against him for a $330 million judgment because he stole American technology.
⦁ The CDC was incompetent and derelict in its duty with its lack of response to local authorities, cursory inspection and lack of testing of pathogens at the site, and lack of assistance in disposing of hazardous materials.
The House Select Committee wondered, how many more labs or potentially dangerous CCP businesses are operating in America? It was only due to the diligence of a local government official and her immediate superiors that anything was done. The House committee also determined that anyone from any country can set up a private laboratory by just getting a business license.
Action
The first step in solving a problem is identifying the problem. The second step is doing something about it.
The United States federal, state, and local government authorities and citizens need to act on the premise that the Chinese Communist Party has declared war on the U.S.
We need to tighten our immigration policies. Not only do we have a disaster at our southern border and, increasingly, at our northern border, but we also have a disaster with our legal immigration procedures. How did Zhu re-enter the U.S. under an alias when his fingerprints were on file under a different name and he was a wanted man by Canadian authorities for stealing American technology?
The FBI and other intelligence agencies need to worry less about Catholics wanting to attend Latin Mass and to worry more about CCP totalitarian policies subverting America. Can you imagine an American going to China and opening an illegal lab?
The CDC’s handling of the Wuhan Virus proves it needs house cleaning with term limits for department heads. Dr. Fauci served as director of the CDC’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years and as an employee for more than 54 years.
Further actions:
1. Reciprocity - If the CCP will not allow an American national to operate in China, then America should not allow a Chinese national to operate in America.
a. Ban TikTok as a national security threat.
b. Ban Chinese nationals from purchasing U.S. land and assets.
2. “We win, they lose” should be our national policy. Government should support efforts to remove the CCP from power.
3. Increase “gray zone” actions.
4. Rebuild our industrial base with more carbon-based and nuclear energy.
5. Stop funding “green energy” projects such as windmills, solar power, and batteries, which benefit the CCP.
6. Invest in our military and supporting infrastructure. Become the arsenal of democracy once again.
Peace Through Strength!
Laurence Sanford graduated from Boston College and then served in the U.S. Navy Pacific fleet from 1963 to 1966. He then served as an officer in the clandestine service of the Central Intelligence Agency for over 4 years, including a two-year assignment in Hong Kong. Mr. Sanford serves as a Senior Analyst with the American Security Council Foundation and is also President of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers — Florida Satellite Chapter.
