Chinese embassy in U.S. says politicising COVID-19 origins hampers investigations
a close from a flag: FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a corporation building in Shanghai© Reuters/ALY SONG FILE PHOTO: Chinese and U.S. flags flutter outside a corporation building in Shanghai
By David Stanway
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Politicising the origins of COVID-19 would hamper further investigations and undermine global efforts to curb the pandemic, China's U.S. embassy said after President Joe Biden ordered a review of intelligence about where the virus emerged.
The embassy in Washington said during a statement on its website on Wednesday evening "some political forces are fixated on political manipulation and (the) blame game".
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to start a second phase of studies into the origins of COVID-19, China has been struggling to offer investigators more access amid allegations that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory specialising in coronavirus research within the city of Wuhan.
China has repeatedly denied the lab was responsible, saying the us and other countries were trying to distract from their own failures to contain the virus.
Biden said on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies were divided about whether COVID-19 "emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident".
Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, said China's lack of openness was a serious factor behind the resurgence of the lab leak theory.
"There's nothing really new there to prove the hypothesis," he said. "In the investigation of the origins of the pandemic it's really important to possess transparency so as to create trust within the investigation results."
"A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY"
The Chinese embassy said it supports "a comprehensive study of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a radical investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories everywhere the planet ."
The Global Times tabloid, a part of the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper group, said late on Wednesday that if the "lab leak theory" is to be further investigated, the us should also allow investigators into its own facilities, including the lab at Fort Detrick.
"Very clearly they're trying to internationalise their answer of the jam they're in," said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think factory , who has been campaigning for a replacement independent investigation.
A joint China-WHO study published in March said that it had been highly improbable that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the lab, adding that it presumably spread from bats to humans via an so far unidentified intermediary species.
China has also continued to point to the likelihood that COVID-19 originated in another country and entered via infected frozen foods or through southeast Asian wildlife trade networks.
"The pandemic started in China," Metzl said. "Let's start with a full investigation there and expand as necessary. In short, this (statement from the embassy) is an outrageous insult to each one that has died from this terrible tragedy and their families."
Huang of CFR said further investigations into the origins of COVID-19 were at an "impasse".
"Ideally you would like China to be more cooperative and more transparent," Huang said. "But now the difficulty has become so politicised, with the stakes of the investigation so high."
(This story corrects paragraph 12 to point out "Southeast Asian wildlife trade networks", not "Southeast China")
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith and David Stanway; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Gerry Doyle)
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China embassy in US says politicising COVID-19 origins will impede investigations
The Chinese embassy within the US on Wednesday said politicising the origins of the coronavirus would hamper further investigations. The statement came shortly after US President Joe Biden ordered US spies to research the origins of the coronavirus.
With China being struggling to offer investigators more access to investigators, the WHO is preparing to start a second phase of studies into the origins of COVID-19.
Allegations are raised, by the Trump administration, that the virus was leaked from a lab in Wuhan, where coronavirus cases were first reported. China has repeatedly denied that the virus was leaked from a lab.
The doctor working closely with President Biden, Dr Fauci on Monday said that he wasn’t convinced that the virus developed naturally and involved a radical investigation.
A team from WHO, visited Wuhan to research the virus’ origin and concluded that a lab leak was ‘extremely unlikely. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, however, maintained that the investigation wasn’t "extensive enough". The team also said that the virus had jumped from a pangolin to humans, but, there are chances that there was an intermediary animal.
The US is examining reports of three researchers within the Wuhan lab, who became so ill in November 2019 that they sought hospitalization .
“We are beginning to see tons of converging streams of evidence that there hasn’t been transparency from the Chinese government,” Dr Amesh Adalja, an expert in biosecurity and emerging infectious diseases Reuters.
Biden said, he received a report from the intelligence committee, wherein it showed that they were divided over the origins of the pandemic.
Two “elements” of the community lean toward animals being the source, while one leans toward a lab origin, “each with low or moderate confidence,” Biden said. Biden has ordered another report in 90 days. within the new report, Biden has asked the committee to redouble efforts to gather data which may cause a definitive conclusion. The President has also asked the committee to boost specific questions for China.
“We got to get to rock bottom of this. As we all know, we’ve lost almost 600,000 Americans to COVID-19, and that we need to get a far better sense of the origins of COVID-19 and also: how can we prevent subsequent pandemic?” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.
The Chinese embassy said it supports "a comprehensive study of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a radical investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories everywhere the planet ,” Reuters reports But China, since the start of the pandemic has tried to regulate the narrative surrounding the pandemic and have successfully been ready to repress whistleblowers and doctors, who wanted to report the pneumonia-like virus in 2019.
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Politicising Covid Origins Hampers Investigations: China's Embassy In US
Chinese embassy said some political forces are fixated on political manipulation.
Shanghai:
Politicising the origins of COVID-19 would hamper further investigations and undermine global efforts to curb the pandemic, China's U.S. embassy said after President Joe Biden ordered a review of intelligence about where the virus emerged.
The embassy in Washington said during a statement on its website on Wednesday evening "some political forces are fixated on political manipulation and (the) blame game".
As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to start a second phase of studies into the origins of COVID-19, China has been struggling to offer investigators more access amid allegations that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a laboratory specialising in coronavirus research within the city of Wuhan.
China has repeatedly denied the lab was responsible, saying the us and other countries were trying to distract from their own failures to contain the virus.
Biden said on Wednesday that U.S. intelligence agencies were divided about whether COVID-19 "emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident".
Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health with the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, said China's lack of openness was a serious factor behind the resurgence of the lab leak theory.
"There's nothing really new there to prove the hypothesis," he said. "In the investigation of the origins of the pandemic it's really important to possess transparency so as to create trust within the investigation results."
"A Comprehensive Study"
The Chinese embassy said it supports "a comprehensive study of all early cases of COVID-19 found worldwide and a radical investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories everywhere the planet ."
The Global Times tabloid, a part of the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper group, said late on Wednesday that if the "lab leak theory" is to be further investigated, the us should also allow investigators into its own facilities, including the lab at Fort Detrick.
"Very clearly they're trying to internationalise their answer of the jam they're in," said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think factory , who has been campaigning for a replacement independent investigation.
A joint China-WHO study published in March said that it had been highly improbable that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the lab, adding that it presumably spread from bats to humans via an so far unidentified intermediary species.
China has also continued to point to the likelihood that COVID-19 originated in another country and entered via infected frozen foods or through southeast China wildlife trade networks.
"The pandemic started in China," Metzl said. "Let's start with a full investigation there and expand as necessary. In short, this (statement from the embassy) is an outrageous insult to each one that has died from this terrible tragedy and their families."
Huang of CFR said further investigations into the origins of COVID-19 were at an "impasse".
"Ideally you would like China to be more cooperative and more transparent," Huang said. "But now the difficulty has become so politicised, with the stakes of the investigation so high."
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