Chinese Covid whistleblower fears Beijing is using her husband and parents to lure her into a 'perfect crime'

File photos of Chinese virologist Li-Meng Yan.

Chinese virologist Li-Meng Yan, who became internationally known for claiming that Covid-19 was engineered in a Wuhan laboratory, now says she fears the Chinese state is using her family to trap her. Yan, who has been in hiding in the United States since 2020, accused Beijing of attempting to lure her back through emotional manipulation in order to “erase the truth.”

According to a report by The New York Times, Yan believes her family is being used as bait.

She said, “For over five years, the CCP has used my parents and Mahen as tools to lure me back, attempting to carry out a ‘perfect crime’ to erase the truth about the virus and avoid accountability.”

How Yan became a high-profile whistleblower

Yan was a researcher at the University of Hong Kong’s laboratory when the first Covid cases emerged. Her supervisor allegedly asked her to look into the outbreak in Wuhan. According to The New York Post, doctors she knew privately confirmed human-to-human transmission long before Chinese authorities acknowledged it. She later came to believe that the virus had been grown deliberately and concealed by the government.

Her claims created a sharp divide in her personal life. Yan and her husband, Sri Lankan-born virologist Ranawaka Perera, had both worked at the same lab. After she started warning people online and speaking to Beijing-critical influencers, the couple split when she decided to flee China.

Political networks in US supported her escape

Yan left China in 2020 and arrived in the United States with assistance from a conservative network. According to the New York Times, her travel was arranged by an organisation connected to former Trump strategist Steve Bannon and exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. They reportedly helped promote her claims and facilitated her access to high-level political advisers during the Trump presidency.

Husband claims she was manipulated by anti-China influencers

Although Yan insists she left by choice and continues her activism voluntarily, Perera argues she was influenced by political operatives and social media personalities who used her to amplify their own agendas.

One figure, Wang Dinggang, was singled out in NYT reports as a YouTuber who attacks China’s leadership while spreading misinformation. In 2023, both Yan and Wang were listed as victims in a criminal complaint that accused Chinese police of running an overseas repression scheme against US residents.

Yan has also reportedly been targeted by hackers. The New York Times said Google warned her this year that her account had been attacked in what appeared to be a state-sponsored attempt.

Yan cuts ties with family, husband searches for closure

Yan has chosen to sever all contact with her family, saying she fears even speaking to them could endanger her. Meanwhile, Perera moved to the United States in 2021 to work at the University of Pennsylvania. He says he has been trying to find her, not to persuade her to return, but simply to confirm she is safe.

Perera told The New York Times, “I just want to talk to her directly, and make sure that she’s safe.”

He added, “If she’s safe, and doesn’t want to be with me, I can move on. But not until I know exactly what happened. She is the person I love the most.”