President Biden Deploys Search Intelligence For COVID-19, China: It Will Only Hinder The Investigation

COVID Illustration 19. (Prasesh Shiwakoti/Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Chinese Embassy in the United States has said politicizing the origins of COVID-19 only slows down further investigations and undermines global efforts to resolve the pandemic, citing President Joe Biden's intelligence engagement.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement on its website late Wednesday that some political forces are fixated on political manipulation and blame.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) prepares to begin a second phase study on the origins of COVID-19, China is under pressure to give investigators more access, amid allegations of SARS-CoV-2 leaking from a laboratory that specializes in coronavirus research in Wuhan City.

China has repeatedly denied the laboratory was responsible, saying the United States and other countries are trying to divert attention from their own failures to contain the virus.

The Chinese Embassy said it supports a comprehensive study of all early cases of COVID-19 found around the world, as well as thorough investigations into secret bases and biological laboratories around the world.

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday, that United States intelligence agencies were "divided" that COVID-19 arose from human contact with infected animals or from laboratory accidents.

Yanzhong Huang, senior academic for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, said China's lack of openness was a major factor behind the rise of the laboratory leak theory.

"There is nothing really new there to prove this hypothesis! In investigating the origin of the pandemic, it is very important to have transparency to build confidence in the results of the investigation", he stressed.

Meanwhile, the government-affiliated Global Times tabloid said on Wednesday night that if the laboratory leak theory was to be investigated further, the United States would also have to allow investigators to remain in its own facilities, including the one at Fort Detrick.

Earlier, a joint China-WHO study published in March said it was highly unlikely that SARS-CoV-2 had leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, adding it was likely to spread from bats to humans via an unidentified intermediate species.

China also continues to point out the possibility that COVID-19 originated in other countries and entered through infected frozen food or through Southeast Asian wildlife trafficking networks.

Huang said further investigations into the origins of COVID-19 were at a deadlock.

“Ideally you want China to be more cooperative and more transparent. But now the problem has become so politicized, with the stakes of the investigation being so high", he said.