The infectious disease expert made the admission during a June 16 Senate hearing he attended virtually. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) managed to make Fauci admit this after his intense scrutiny, complete with a physical diagram.

"I don't think I'd be able to tell you that we are going to stop funding the Chinese," Fauci answered in response to the Republican lawmaker's question about when will he stop funding of research in China. The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) cited "very productive, peer-reviewed, highly regarded research projects with Chinese colleagues that have led to some major advances in biomedical research."

Fauci's answer followed a revelation by Marshall that the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the NIAID's parent entity, continues to provide at least $8 million to China-based research since 2020. The senator added: "In the U.S. Intelligence Community's 2022 Annual Threat Assessment Report, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is presented as one of the top threats to the U.S. – alongside Russia, Iran, Syria and North Korea. To my knowledge, only China is receiving U.S. research dollars."

The NIAID director mentioned that the NIH does not recklessly release research funds to Chinese institutions. He explained: "We obviously need to be careful and make sure that when we do fund them, we have the proper peer review and we go through all the established guidelines." According to the White House chief medical advisor, all research grants that go to other countries receive clearance from the Department of State.