China.org.cn: Second phase of COVID-19 origin tracing: Stop politicizing science

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China.org.cn

Jul 28, 2021, 10:00 ET

BEIJING, July 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by China.org.cn on the second phase of COVID-19 origin tracing:

Second phase of COVID-19 origin tracing: Stop politicizing science

On July 15, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus repeated that it was premature to rule out a potential link between the COVID-19 pandemic and a laboratory leak. However, a study report released by the WHO back in March drew the conclusion that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely." The act of contradiction raised many eyebrows.

Actually, the March study report was compiled by experts from various countries and international organizations, covering epidemiology, zoology and other fields. But what made the WHO so self-contradictory? The so-called "lack of cooperation and transparency from China"? Or is there a hidden motive?

The allegations that China was "uncooperative" and "not transparent" are totally groundless. All the plans, visits, analyses and presentations during the first phase of virus origin tracing were made and carried out together by experts of the joint team. China met all their requirements: The experts visited all the places they wanted to visit, including the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market and the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and they talked with everybody they wanted to talk with.

As a scientific issue, virus origin tracing involves multiple disciplines and may take several years to complete. However, the Biden administration gave the intelligence community only 90 days to "reach a definitive conclusion." How absurd and arrogant!

From media hype around intelligence agency probes supplemented by remarks from individual experts, to assertions of politicians targeting China and pressuring the WHO, these are all the stock-in-trade of the U.S., aren't they? The U.S. presented a vial of white powder as evidence of chemical weapons to legitimize its invasion of Iraq, which was later derided as "washing powder". So how can one guarantee that the second phase of origin tracing does not become a repeat of the "washing powder incident" when politics interferes with science?

This is not to mention the suspicious spate of lung injuries associated with e-cigarette or vaping product use in the U.S. and the alert by its intelligence services regarding pneumonia to Israel before the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. The ineffective anti-epidemic response of the U.S. even harmed the world, while its false claims and moves to politicize origin tracing are aimed precisely at suppressing China and concealing its poor response.

China fully supports scientific origin tracing, including investigations into animal origins and cold chain transmission, as well as such efforts in multiple countries. However, China will never accept political manipulation with malicious intent. The plot by the U.S. to suppress China through origin tracing will fall flat.

China Mosaic
http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm

Second phase of COVID-19 origin tracing: Stop politicizing science
http://www.china.org.cn/video/2021-07/28/content_77657992.htm

SOURCE China.org.cn