A report by US secret agencies ruled out that COVID-19 was generated as a chemical weapon. Joe Biden assured that Xi Jinping’s regime “prevents researchers from accessing information about the origin of the coronavirus.”
US President Joe Biden said on Friday that China was withholding “critical information” about the origins of Covid-19, which has paralyzed the world and killed nearly 4.5 million people.
“There is critical information about the origins of this pandemic in the People’s Republic of China, yet from the beginning, Chinese government officials have worked to prevent international researchers and members of the global public health community from gaining access. her, “Biden said in a statement.
“To this day, the People’s Republic of China continues to reject calls for transparency and withholding information, even as the number of victims of this pandemic continues to rise.”
Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies remain divided over the origins of the coronavirus, but believe Chinese leaders were unaware of the virus before the global pandemic began, according to results released Friday of a review ordered by President Biden.
According to an unclassified summary, four members of the American intelligence community claim with little confidence that the virus was initially transmitted from an animal to a human. A fifth intelligence agency believes with moderate confidence that the first human infection was related to a laboratory. Analysts do not believe that the virus was developed as a biological weapon.
China’s refusal to cooperate fully with the US and international investigations into the virus has made analysis of its origin difficult. The Director of National Intelligence said on Friday that China “continues to obstruct the global investigation, resisting sharing information and blaming other countries, including the United States.”
The cause of the coronavirus remains an urgent public health and safety concern around the world. In the United States, many conservatives have accused Chinese scientists of developing COVID-19 in a laboratory and allowing it to leak. The scientific consensus remains that the virus most likely migrated from animals in what is known as a zoonotic transmission.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry attacked the US investigation before the report was released. Fu Cong, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a briefing for foreign journalists that “using China as a scapegoat cannot cover up the United States.”
” If they want to accuse China without foundation, they better be prepared to accept China’s counterattack, ” he said.
Biden ordered in May a 90-day review of what the White House said was an initial finding that led to ” two likely scenarios “: an animal-to-human transmission or a laboratory leak. The White House said at the time that two agencies of the 18-member intelligence community were leaning toward the hypothesis of transmission in the wild and another agency was leaning toward a slab leak.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday did not identify which agencies supported either hypothesis. But he pointed to some of the same obstacles faced by the World Health Organization and scientists around the world: the lack of clinical samples and data from early COVID-19 cases. According to the bureau, Beijing’s cooperation will most likely be needed to move forward.
To carry out the review, intelligence agencies consulted with allied nations and experts outside the government. An epidemiologist joined the National Intelligence Council, a high-level think tank that consults with the head of the intelligence community.