What follows from Republican report on coronavirus leak from Wuhan lab
New findings
The United States continues its investigation into the origin of SARS-CoV-2, namely, they are looking for confirmation of the theory of the so-called “laboratory leak”. The latest conclusions drawn by Republicans from the House of Representatives suggest that a dangerous virus could indeed have been created artificially, writes The Hill, citing the third part of the report by Foreign Affairs Committee member Michael McCall.
It, in particular, claims that the virus actually began to spread not from the Huanan seafood market, but to WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology). The congressman specified that there is “irrefutable evidence” in support of this, but the content of his report is based rather on circumstantial evidence and facts from open sources.
Nevertheless, the researchers assure that Chinese scientists conducted research on “gain-of-function” mutations, and they did it in unsafe conditions – a few months before the appearance of COVID-19, the laboratory was undergoing repairs. It also points to a 2018 State Department telegram leaked to the press, in which the United States expressed concerns about the safety of procedures and governance at the WIV.
According to the report, the first cases of COVID-19 were recorded back in September-October 2019, and not in mid-November, as previously assumed. The WHO announced a global pandemic of coronavirus infection only in March 2020.
Republicans are confident that the technology of “invisible” assembly of the virus genome by Ralph Barik from the University of North Carolina, invented back in 2005, helped scientists to conceal the fact of genetic manipulation of the virus, and already in 2017, viruses began to be created in WIV without traces of genetic modifications. The scientific community is inclined to believe that the virus could not have been created artificially precisely because studies have shown that it lacks appropriate markers, but the authors of the reports call these conclusions “insincere.” Barik himself said in 2020 that viruses can be created without traces, but all the answers lie in the archives of the Wuhan laboratory.
Finally, the Republicans emphasize that they have no grounds for finally formulating the guilt of Chinese scientists, but they call for a legislative response in order to impose costs on China (Trump, for example, argued that China owes only the US $ 10 trillion compensation) for the outbreak of the virus. McCall also concludes by talking about the need for a law that would allow for the imposition of sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials and academics who may have impeded a prompt response to the pandemic. British professor Sir Jeremy Farrar also spoke about this earlier.
“The Biden administration, together with WHO and other countries, has already used diplomacy and tried to convince the Chinese to cooperate. They gave us their negative answer. What next? In addition, they did not really explain how this issue fits into the broader relationship between the US and China, “said Anthony Ruggiero, senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Previous suspicions
For the first time, the hypothesis of the artificial origin of SARS-CoV-2 was published by the American media – reports said that work was underway to create biological weapons in Wuhan. Soon, other media outlets suggested that this was unlikely, since WIV was unlikely to be suitable for these purposes.
The official position of the WHO was presented in the report following the visit of specialists to the Wuhan laboratory. It lies in the fact that the scientific community, in fact, does not exclude the option with the appearance of the virus by artificial means, but considers it doubtful. The main direction of research continues to be the transmission of the virus from an animal (previously, from a bat) to a person, but not everyone agrees with this.
More than others, the United States is concerned about the emergence of COVID-19, the reason for this was the refusal of the PRC government to let foreign scientists into WIV at the beginning of the pandemic. Even under Donald Trump, American intelligence, together with British colleagues, began their proceedings, and under Biden, forces were expanded for this. The Wall Street Journal wrote in June that the investigation is at an impasse, and the intelligence officers have no new information that could prove China's involvement in the pandemic. Approximately in September-October 2021, they must provide Biden with the final answer.
China's response
The PRC in every possible way rejects Washington's attempts to accuse them of a “laboratory leak” of the virus and associates the resulting distrust of the laboratory with political pressure on Beijing, while simultaneously claiming that the United States is influencing the World Health Organization and the expert group.
At the same time, China refused to cooperate with WHO on the second stage of the investigation of COVID-19, calling the organization's plans “political posturing” and “an arrogant attitude towards science.” This was a response to the measures proposed by the head of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, to check the Wuhan laboratory, next to which the first patients with coronavirus were found.
