Amin Kef Sesay
The US intelligence community has recently compiled a report on the origins of COVID-19. In response to the US Intelligence Report on COVID-19, the Vice Foreign Minister of China, Ma Zhaoxu, stated that the report is mendacious and made up for political purposes.
He furthered that there is no scientific basis or credibility in it. Besides the report, the US also released a statement slandering and attacking China.
However, China has expressed its firm objection and has made strong representations with the US.
The Chinese stated how they have stressed on multiple occasions that origins tracing of COVID-19 is a complex issue of science which should and can only be undertaken by scientists around the world through joint research.
It continued that the US, however, disregards science and facts but instead is obsessed with political manipulation and origins tracing by the intelligence community.
“Without providing any evidence, the US has cooked up one story after another to defame and accuse China,” he lambasted maintaining that the aim is to use origins tracing to shift blame onto China and spread the political virus.
He underscored that the deployment of the intelligence community in origins tracing is in itself a compelling evidence of the politicization of the issue adding how the US accuses China of not being transparent or cooperative on origins tracing terming it as sheer nonsense.
According to him, China attaches great importance to international scientific cooperation on origins tracing, and has taken an active part in such cooperation.
Ma Zhaoxu said acting on the principles of science, openness and transparency, they have twice invited WHO experts to China for origins tracing research also intimating that early this year, a WHO-China joint study team of leading international and Chinese experts conducted a 28-day research in China and released a Joint Report containing authoritative, professional and science-based conclusions.
He argued that such is a good foundation for international cooperation on origins tracing revealing how they have been supporting science-based efforts on origins tracing, and will continue to stay actively engaged maintaining how they firmly oppose attempts to politicize the issue.
“It is actually the US that is not being transparent, responsible and cooperative on this issue,” the Vice Foreign Minister of China pointed out disclosing how the US has been refusing to respond to the international community’s reasonable doubts on the Fort Detrick bio-lab and the over 200 overseas bases for biological experiments, trying to cover up the truth and avoid being held responsible. He said the onus is on the US to give the world an answer.
Ma Zhaoxu stated that the US attempts to politicize origins tracing have found no support and met widespread opposition from the international community.
He said more than 80 countries have written to the WHO Director-General, issued statements, or sent diplomatic notes to voice their objection to the politicization attempts and call for the Joint Report by the WHO-China joint study team to be upheld; that over 300 political parties, social organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat on opposing the politicization of origins tracing; and over 25 million Chinese netizens have signed an open letter asking for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick base.
He went on to state that the aforementioned are people’s calls for justice.
Ma Zhaoxu said as a Chinese saying goes, a just cause attracts abundant support, while an unjust one finds little.
“We want to once again warn the US side that politicizing origins tracing will lead nowhere,” he sternly admonished urging the US to immediately stop doing anything that poisons the atmosphere for international cooperation on origins tracing or undermines global solidarity against the pandemic, and return to the right track of science-based origins tracing and cooperation in the face of the pandemic.
