Racism and physical attacks on Asians and people of Asian descent are spreading in the United States in the wake of the COVID-19 virus pandemic. Many believe that former President Donald Trump's "China virus" and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "Wuhan virus" have fueled the spread of hate speech in the United States. But what is often overlooked is that it was Hong Kong expert Yan Limeng who stamped the "legal seal" on the rumor of their virus's origin.


Guo Wengui, a wealthy exiled businessman, and Bannon, a former White House staffer, brought Ms. Yan from Hong Kong to spread false research conclusions in the media, convincing more Americans that the Covid-19 virus came from an Asian lab. Although the claims have since been dismissed as "baseless" by several US research institutions and the World Health Organization, hate speech against Asians has spread widely on social media and gained support from many public figures in the community and beyond.
According to statistics from “Stop AAPI Hate”, 2,808 anti-Asian incidents were recorded in 2020, of which 240 were physical assaults. In 2021, hatred against Asians escalated. Atlanta, Georgia, was the scene of an extremely violent March murder of six Asian women by a gunman. And on Friday, the day after the law was passed, a 61-year-old Asian man was knocked to the ground and seriously injured after being repeatedly trampled on the head by a mob in New York.