The story I've heard is it was created in NC as a part of MIL research...
... then Gain of Function funding was supposed to have stopped, so it was moved via an intermediary to Wuhan for continued research, and then "got loose".
BTW, this has been a standard playbook in many domains. If something is illegal in the USA, whether GOV or CORP, that effort is exported to another country where it is not illegal. If BIZ, maybe there's a cost benefit.
It's a scummy practice.
Aspiring meme creator