Perhaps most bizarrely, China Daily created a video about me, which it tweeted to its 4.2 million followers. The clip incorrectly claimed I was a “social butterfly in the right-wing circle” who had “made big money and big fame.” China Daily reporters Xu Pan Yiru and Meng Zhe said: “If you think about the Wuhan lab-leak theory, you would probably think the US media played a major role in promoting the conspiracy. But as we look closer at the origin of COVID-19, we find actually it is an Australian journalist who has pushed the conspiracy.”

There have been hacking and malware attempts as well. My Wikipedia page is subject to constant trolling from IP addresses registered in China. The night after my first Wuhan scoop, I received anti-Semitic death threats that also targeted my family.

It wasn’t until I spoke with officials who had led intelligence agencies that I properly understood the motivation behind such a concerted campaign against me in the Chinese media. The former secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo told me that the CCP was desperate to control the narrative about how the virus began and to deflect any attention from the Wuhan lab.