China deflects direct question on fair probe into whether COVID-19 leaked from Wuhan lab

As questions continue to be raised over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, China on Wednesday parried a question on whether it would allow an independent probe into allegations that the COVID-19 virus may have been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, even as Chinese researchers claimed that the Coronavirus may have been transmitted to humans from pangolins via bats.

China stays silent on COVID origin probe

While answering questions on calls for investigations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian referred to the study of the origin of the Coronavirus led by WHO (World Health Organisation) experts group which visited Wuhan and Wuhan Institute of Virology from January 14 to February 10. However, the spokesperson parried a question whether Beijing would agree to an independent probe to investigate the allegations that COVID-19 may have been leaked from the WIV.

Amid the COVID origin probe row, Chinese state media Global Times has published an article to defend China's claims that the virus was a naturally occurring phenomenon. This comes even as the global community cornered China for not allowing an unrestricted probe by the World Health Organisation (WHO) team into the origins of Coronavirus, maintaining that the virus may have been man-made and its spread could have been due to a lab leak in China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

Pressure mounts on China over COVID origins

However, it is pertinent to note that scientists from the WHO team that probed the origins of the virus in Wuhan Institute of Virology have called for a follow-up probe. Wuhan in China was the place where the virus was first detected/originated in late 2019. However, due to China's hesitancy and delay in granting permission to the probe even after immense international pressure, the team of WHO experts visited China in mid-January this year, even as the virus began wreaking havoc in late 2019. 

Moreover, the WHO team that probed COVID's origins has indicated that Chinese authorities withheld crucial data that could have shed light on the COVID origins, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the global pandemic began. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in March that his team suffered rejections from China in accessing "raw data on early COVID-19 cases", while adding that more "collaborative studies" are required with "more timely and comprehensive data sharing". As the deadly pandemic has wrecked the economies and strained the health care systems across the world, global pressure continues to mount on China over the investigation on the COVID origins.

US renews call for China to allow COVID origin probe

On May 25, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had said, "An international investigation led by the World Health Organization is something that we've actually been pressing for several months in coordination with a range of partners around the world."

The White House Press Secretary had said, "I have to say, I think the family members of the loved ones whose lives have been lost and deserve accurate information data, not jumping to a conclusion without having the information necessary to conclude where the origins are. What we do share, everyone in this country is a desire to know how this started, where it started, and prevent it from ever happening again. That's something we all share."

Evidence mounts that China had studied weaponisation of Coronavirus

Also, explosive documents have revealed that China discussed the weaponization of Coronavirus as far back as 2015. As per the document, People's Liberation Army (PLA) commanders had predicted that World War 3 would be fought with biological weapons, and on similar lines, the Chinese military scientists had discussed the weaponization of SARS coronaviruses five years before the COVID-19 pandemic originated and spread to various parts of the world. Outlining their ideas, top scientists predicted that these coronaviruses could be used to fight the third world war. The paper obtained by the US officials was reportedly written by military scientists and senior Chinese public health officials in 2015, The Australian reported, adding that it was a part of their own investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The new details once again raise questions over China's role in the spread of coronavirus with major concerns about China's transparency on the origins of COVID-19.

(Image: AP, Pixabay)