China Brief: Hong Kong s Apple Daily prints final edition

The defector who wasn t. Right-wing media is abuzz with claims that Dong Jingwei, a deputy minister of state security, has defected to the United States. Rumors like this are common in the Chinese diaspora, especially among political exiles and dissidents, but it is rare they amount to anything. In this case, however, the rumor was seized on by right-wing sites as justification for the lab leak theory and anti-Biden conspiracy theories.

Both Beijing and Washington set out to refute this rumor itself an unusual move, probably undertaken because of heightened U.S.-China tensions. Beijing quietly released a report about Dong hosting an anti-espionage session while a senior Biden administration source denied the claims. That hasn t stopped people touting it though.

Expect more such rumors as connections between Chinese-language dissident conspiracy sites, such as the Epoch Times, and U.S. conservative media deepen.

via click1.crm.foreignpolicy.com

The Epoch Times was way ahead of FP on the Wuhan Lab Leak story — I guess that makes them a “conspiracy” site.

It’s looking like Dong Jingwei has not defected or at least that’s what the legacy media is saying. Oh well.