Rogue China calls WHO 'arrogant' & 'lacking common sense' for COVID-origin probe demand

In a perfect analogy for 'Pot calling the kettle black', a defiant China has slammed the World Health Organisation (WHO) for asking for better Chinese cooperation and access to data in the COVID-19 origins probe. The WHO on Friday proposed a second phase study into the origins of the coronavirus in China, which includes all the laboratories and markets in Wuhan from where COVID-19 emerged and spread across the world. Reacting to the WHO's proposal, Deputy Health Commission Chief of China Zeng Yixin described it as "arrogant" and "lacking in respect for common sense".

While the global scientific community calls for a thorough and transparent probe if the virus was a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, China continues to peddle its narrative that the virus was a naturally occurring phenomenon.

As brazen as it gets with China, its mouthpiece Global Times citing 'Chinese observers' accused the WHO of succumbing to the US and the West's political pressure. China has resorted to blame-games and accusations as global pressure mounts on it demanding cooperation in the second conclusive COVID-19 origin probe.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also urged Beijing to be transparent and open to cooperate. "We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died to know what happened," he said.

China restricted the first probe into COVID-19 origins

It is a widely known fact that the WHO team which visited China in January this year to conduct the COVID-19 origins probe was not given complete access to raw data from the Chinese Government-run Wuhan Institute of Virology where studies were being conducted on SARS-CoV-2 viruses. The WHO team called for a follow-up probe into COVID-19 origins in China. The WHO team had said 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.

The WHO chief said 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".

It is also known that China tried everything in its might to block/delay/derail the first probe into COVID origins. The virus was first detected/originated in late 2019 in Wuhan but due to China's hesitancy and delay in granting permission to the COVID origins probe despite immense international pressure, the probe could take place only in January 2021 i.e. after a year.

China weaponising Coronavirus?

Moreover, 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, according to The Australian, adding that it was a part of their own investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The shocking details again raised questions over China's role in the spread of coronavirus with major concerns about China's transparency on the origins of COVID-19.