China Warns Of Counterattack Against Those Questioning Coronavirus Origins
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – China warned Wednesday it would retaliate with “a counterattack” against those questioning whether the coronavirus leaked from its labs after U.S. President Joe Biden indicated he would make public findings of an intelligence investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We will continue to cooperate with international organizations like the [World Health Organization] WHO in their research and their search for the origins,” stressed Fu Cong, director-general of China’s Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control Department. “But we do not accept baseless accusations that are politically motivated. And if they want to accuse China baselessly, they better be prepared to accept the counterattack from China.”
Fu did not specify what that “counterattack” would mean. The comments came after the White House announced an unclassified summary of the findings related to a debate on natural origin versus a Wuhan lab leak due to being published “soon.”
White House officials say the president was briefed on the classified report. They “look forward to having an unclassified summary of key judgments to share soon.”
U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans said this month that the evidence points to COVID-19 emerging from the Wuhan Institute of
Virology in late August or early September 2019. China allegedly covered it up for months.
WHO-CHINA REPORT
Critics consider a WHO-China report was a failure, partly due to the lack of access to critical data and Chinese influence over the investigation.WHO team leader Peter Ben Embarek admitted that China’s government applied pressure on the report’s conclusions.
He had said that the possibility the coronavirus escaped from the Wuhan lab didn’t merit further inquiry and that a jump from animals to humans was most likely while an accidental release was “extremely unlikely.”
However, even WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reluctantly reversed, saying, “All hypotheses remain open and require further study.” Last month, Tedros noted a “premature push” to dismiss the lab theory. Still, the Chinese government shut down the suggestion of a second investigation.
U.S. intelligence agencies are due to finish a virus-origins review ordered by President Joe Biden in late May. That order came in response to questions over whether Chinese labs in the central city of Wuhan were the source of the coronavirus.
Fu said if Washington continued to question China’s facilities, it should allow a probe of labs at a military facility in the U.S. state of Maryland and the University of North Carolina. It “is known as the center of the U.S. government’s darkest experiments,” he complained. “Serious concerns have long been praised by the international community, including the American public, over Fort Detrick.”
Fu suggested that WHO chief Tedros should visit Fort Detrick in Maryland.
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