I thought this was one of the money quotes: We American scientists tacitly assume everyone does things the way we do things.“The WIV is under the thumb of the party state,” he says. “Just because you can’t see the political pressures they’re under doesn’t mean they’re not under them. American scientists have been slow to realize that.”
CCP has everything locked down so tightly, outsiders generally will never know the extent of censorship and totality of clampdown exerted. There were no results searching for mentions of Sitong Bridge Beijing on weibo or anywhere inside the great firewall recently. There are hundred or thousands or more police posted on bridges across China... And anyone who's spent time in China will be aware of the pervasive chàbuduō attitude. A mixture of a very pragmatic response to a situation, combined with meh, good enough, but it goes a lot further. It's also a very sharp, double edged sword. Cable won't reach? Drill a hole in the door, feed it through... very pragmatic|meh good enough. Can't afford to buy and process vegetable oil, gutter oil..., so pragmatic|meh good enough. Can't be bothered to follow to strict chemical/biological waste disposal procedures, dump it in the sewer. chàbuduō also means if you can get away with it, you definitely should. Now I'm not saying they were so slapdash with their attitudes, that a dangerous virus being experimented on for gain of function, funded by the US (because they aren't allowed to) - only co-incidentally the very virus that caused a worldwide pandemic killing millions - could have been exposed to the outside world accidentally because some fuckwit threw a virulent bat's carcass in the dumpster out back that one time because Joe Chao mixed up the labels on the infected/uninfected cages, or someone tore their protective clothing, or spilt a vial and just used a mop to clean it up because ... chàbuduō. But that is exactly what happened. Then the CCP machinery kicks in to cover it all up, now no-one will ever know the difference ... chàbuduō | meh good enough
Yeah I ain't a scientist. Grew up with 'em, know 'em, and there's a definite "I don't do it this way so nobody I respect does it this way, and anybody I don't respect isn't really a scientist." Anyone with any experience in political forensics, however, goes "the Chinese hid a whole Tienamen Square from themselves."