On February 23, 2017, Nature magazine published "Inside the Chinese lab poised to study world's most dangerous pathogens" on the occasion of the new BSL-4 lab in Wuhan about to commence operations. The Nature article mentioned that the lab's construction was approved in 2003 and "built with French assistance," but it doesn't provide any details. In fact, the Wuhan BSl-4 lab was built by the French biotech company bioMerieux SA pursuant to a cooperative agreement between France and China in 2003, following the emergence of the first SARS virus in China. In subsequent posts I will examine this French Connection, with special attention to Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.