The intricate tale weaves together key Chinese military virologists and culminates in the smoking gun evidence surrounding COVID-19's notorious furin cleavage site.

At the center of this narrative lies Dr. Hotez, a distinguished professor at Baylor College of Medicine, who secured a substantial research grant (R01AI098775) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) led by Dr. Anthony Fauci. This grant, amounting to over $1 million per year, supports Dr. Hotez's project titled "RBD Recombinant Protein-Based SARS Vaccine for Biodefense," with Dr. Shibo Jiang listed as a Principal Investigator.

Dr. Shibo Jiang, a professor at Fudan University, boasts an impressive academic background. After completing his Master's degree from the People's Liberation Army's Guangzhou First Military Medical University (????????) and his Medical Doctor degree from Xi'an Fourth Military Medical University (?????????), he pursued postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University in New York from 1987 to 1990.

Subsequently, he held various positions at the New York Blood Center's Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute until 2010, including Head of the Viral Immunology Laboratory. Since then, he has served as a professor at Fudan University's Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology in Shanghai, China.

During his time in the United States, Dr. Shibo Jiang also acted as a visiting professor at several prestigious People's Liberation Army (PLA) universities, including the First and Fourth Military Medical University, the Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS), and Southern Medical University (formerly known as the First Military Medical University). Despite his collaboration with the Chinese military, he received research grants totaling over $20 million from NIAID under Dr. Fauci's leadership between 1997 and 2016.