Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) alleged without direct evidence that Harvard officials may have helped suppress some theories regarding the origins of Covid-19 in a “quid pro quo” effort to advance Chinese state interests in a June 16 letter addressed to University President Lawrence S. Bacow.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) alleged without direct evidence that Harvard officials may have helped suppress some theories regarding the origins of Covid-19 in a “quid pro quo” effort to advance Chinese state interests in a June 16 letter addressed to University President Lawrence S. Bacow.
The unsubstantiated allegations in the letter — which have drawn criticism from U.S.-China scholars — center around a donation that the Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande Group pledged to Harvard Medical School in early 2020.
The $115 million pledge helped establish a research collaboration between American and Chinese scientists in February 2020. But Evergrande later reneged on its pledge after contributing only $12 million, according to a January report in the Boston Globe.
