Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is in the crosshairs of Xi Jinping-led China’s state-run media after sharing an assessment that the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins lie in a Wuhan laboratory.
What Happened: Eunice Yoon, CNBC’s Beijing Bureau Chief, cited a report from China’s Global Times newspaper on Twitter.
Yoon said the report asked Musk if he was “breaking the pot of China,” a reference to “biting the hand that feeds you.”
The CNBC reporter highlighted that the Chinese media didn’t consider Musk’s remarks as an attack against the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci alone.
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Why It Matters: The Global Times accused Musk not only of reposting the conspiracy theory surrounding Fauci but also of “slandering” China.
It noted that Musk has been moving closer to right-wing forces in the United States in recent years.
It was reported earlier that the U.S. Energy Department said with “low confidence” that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19, which transformed into a major global pandemic in 2020.
Musk has taken a number of jibes at Fauci including once declaring his pronouns to be “Prosecute/Fauci.”
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