Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says US intelligence “has a reputation for fraud and deception”
The declassified report of the American intelligence, according to which the cause of the pandemic of COVID-19 may have been created in a laboratory, is unscientific and untrustworthy, said the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin, quoted by BTA.
According to the report, the appearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have natural causes, but its leakage from the laboratory is also a plausible hypothesis.
In a response posted yesterday on the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s website, Wang said that “a lie repeated a thousand times remains a lie.”
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that US intelligence “has a reputation for fraud and deception.”
“Tracing the origin of the new coronavirus is a serious and complex problem that can and should only be studied through the collaboration of global scientists,” Wang added.
He also reiterated China’s calls for the United States to open its own laboratory at Fort Detrick for research.
More than 200 million confirmed cases worldwide and about 4.5 million victims. This is the sad balance of the nearly two-year-long COVID-19 pandemic. And while attempts to finally deal with the dangerous disease continue, the question of the origin of the infection still has no definite answer and continues to fuel a number of conspiracy theories. According to most scientists, there is no reason to believe that COVID-19 was artificially created, but many people are of the opposite opinion.
Lack of sufficient evidence
At the end of August this year, US intelligence presented the findings of its investigation into the origin of COVID-19. According to the report, the deadly disease was not developed as a biological weapon. Experts involved in its preparation also note that the virus is probably not genetically modified, but “there is not enough evidence to give one or another assessment.” The intelligence services also did not reach a general conclusion about the origin of the infection, as “their opinions differ”. The data at their disposal show that two hypotheses are equally plausible: “natural contact with an infected animal and an accident in a laboratory”.
Establishing the origin of the virus is of great importance. This will not only help to control the current crisis, but will also help prevent future pandemics. If the source of the infection turns out to be a bat, as a number of experts suggest, then this will clearly show how dangerous contact can be between wild animals and people living and working near their natural habitat. Such a revelation will increase pressure on authorities around the world to impose more restrictions on deforestation and urban expansion. If it turns out that the virus was released as a result of a laboratory accident, this would lead to a tightening of security measures.
Exchange of charges
One of the main findings of the US intelligence report is that Chinese authorities did not know about the new disease before the pandemic, but there is no way to make a definitive assessment of the origin of COVID-19 without the help of Beijing. According to the United States, the Asian country “obstructs the global investigation, does not want to share information and blames other countries.” The Chinese authorities are of the opinion that the international community is using the pandemic issue to exert political pressure on them.
Wuhan Institute of Virology
Earlier this year, a WHO team visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first case of COVID-19 was registered. According to the results of their investigation, the transmission of the disease from a bat to another animal and hence to a human is the most likely hypothesis of a pandemic outbreak, but “more specific analyzes” must be performed. The WHO also said that the probability of the virus being released from a laboratory was “extremely low”. Their conclusion has been fiercely criticized because, according to a number of scholars, it is too early to make such assessments, and there is not enough evidence to dismiss this theory.
The fact that Wuhan is home to one of the most modern institutes of virology in the world raises many questions. Part of it is the only laboratory in China certified to the BSL-4 standard – the highest level of biosafety. Scientists working in such laboratories are studying some of the most dangerous diseases known to mankind. According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, three weeks before the pandemic was officially reported, three staff members were admitted to hospital with acute symptoms of COVID-19. Authorities in China have denied this, accusing the United States of spreading lies.
