China resists politically driven COVID-19 probes

US, Europe urged to investigate origin of deadly disease

Any investigation to define the time and origin of the novel coronavirus should be based on a rigorous scientific study, which can’t be interpreted in a political context nor based on presumptions of guilt, Chinese officials and experts said as the World Health Organization (WHO) mulls on a new mission to China to seek the origin of the virus amid growing noises, particularly some ill-intentioned attempts from US politicians in pursuing viral conspiracies as part of a smear campaign against China, posing a serious threat to the global combat against the disease.

While more evidences emerge suggesting that the virus might have been circulating outside of China earlier than the first reported local case, countries and international organizations are also urged to launch scientific investigations to better understand how the pandemic unfolded there, which would be beneficial to the world in confronting this unprecedented public health crisis.

The WHO is considering sending a follow-up mission to China to investigate the source of the coronavirus pandemic, media reported on Thursday, citing a WHO official who talked about such a plan during the organization’s latest press briefing.

Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, said at a briefing on Wednesday that “there is discussion with our counterparts in China for a fur

ther mission, which would be more academic in focus, looking at what happened at the beginning in terms of exposure with different animals,” according to media reports.

However, when it came to an online briefing from Chen Xu, the Chinese Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, on the same day, who emphasized that China has been transparent on COVID-19 and cooperated with the international community in dealing with the pandemic since the outbreak began, some reports now say China refused to invite foreign experts to investigate the source of the virus, echoing some circulating doubts over the country’s mishandling and cover-up at the early stages of the outbreak by shutting its doors to an international investigation.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying clarified during a routine press briefing on Thursday that China remains open to all kinds of cooperation with the WHO, including the issue regarding virus tracing and will contribute as long as it’s conducive to better human responses to major infectious diseases.

What the country does oppose is any investigation on the presumption of guilt, initiated by certain countries like the US, she said.

More than an investigation

Some US politicians, including Republican lawmakers and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been relentlessly staging a political farce centered on “blaming China” and “shifting responsibility” in recent weeks by constantly attacking China and accusing the country of hiding viral information and blocking foreign experts from learning about the virus on the ground. They ignored the fact that Beijing has been openly sharing information with the world since January when Washington tried to downplay the severity of the disease and wasted months to contain the virus, further contributing to its domestic spread.

Tracing the origin of the virus and conducting full-scale epidemiological investigations should always be led by scientists, not by politicians, as they are both complicated scientific questions that should be studied and discussed in an open manner, Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“We need a fact and scientific-based attitude toward this matter, as tracing the origin is not an easy task and we need a comprehensive plan for it,” he said.

Zeng, like other Chinese experts and officials including Ambassador Chen, noted that China is not against any kind of investigation as long as they are beneficial to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic that has seen so far more than 3 million infected cases worldwide with the total death toll at 264,109, as of press time Thursday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Chen also told a briefing on Wednesday that China has been sharing information in an open and transparent way with the WHO since the beginning of the outbreak, and is not against any investigation, inquiry or evaluation, “as long as it will be beneficial to international efforts in this pandemic or for future preparation.”

Despite this, officials and experts, both in China and overseas, have been reiterating that the origin of the novel coronavirus is a scientific question, and it’s up to scientists and professionals all over the world to work together and deal with such a thorny challenge, not politicians. Some Western politicians have ignored the truth and hyped up the matter, reflecting their anti-intellectual and anti-scientific attitude that prioritize political goals over human life.

Particularly as more evidences show that some early suspected cases might have been dismissed by authorities in countries like France and the US, calls have become more louder for a full-scale and thorough investigation led by experts across the world.

‘Stop the political games!’

After a French hospital retested old samples from pneumonia patients and discovered that the country’s first known case appeared as early as December 27, 2019, nearly a month before the government reported the first confirmed case, as media reports recently said, more evidences also reveal that the disease was in the US before cases were officially reported. And some French athletes told local media that they had COVID-19- like symptoms back in October 2019.

“Investigations should not target China. All countries that have an epidemic outbreak, including France and the US, should also be included into the investigation,” Shen Yi, a professor from Fudan University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

When the epidemic in the US spiraled out of control, it blamed China. What can theUS contribute regarding current pandemic control by blaming China for the viral origin, Shen asked.

“The startling death toll in the US has unnerved some US politicians and pushed them to more wildly blame China. The US government is akin to a giant infant – acting shamelessly and howling desperately to ask China to take responsibility for its own mistakes,” Shen said, noting that the US has no bottom line or sense of shame.