I do find the speculation about the idea that this could be a bioweapon that got lose funny, because if it is such then there's a rather large elephant in the room that hasn't been mentioned.
The Chinaman is at the forefront of genomic and geneering. He also has very little moral concerns about experimentation on humans. If the Chinese are developing a new bioweapon, it is almost certainly racially targeted, probably against Caucasians generally, though that could be something that hits everyone from South Asia to Eastern Europe. Or, I suppose, maybe it could be a way to mop up Africa.
While I'm impressed by the massive response of the PRC- clearly no Western government would quarantine off entire cities and provinces to restrict a virus like this, at least until it had massively spread elsewhere- there might be a very good reason for this. Perhaps they know it's relatively low risk to their own people, but will show itself to be a bioweapon if it spreads into the target populations? If it is, and if it doesn't spread out of control and get the job done, it could be embarrassing.
The fact that the Party is focusing on more full spectrum stuff, like using this as an excuse to
crack down on the eating of bushment (and hopefully pigs and other dirty animals) and other traditional foods that Chinamen engage in and can't be rationally persuaded against does suggest otherwise. But who knows?