Where did the Coronavirus really come from?

Zhao | eTurboNews | eTN
Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

The CIA tried and came back empty handed. The US would love to blame a Chinese laboratory for a leak, while China is backfiring and pointing a finger on a US lab in return.

  • The CIA and other US Spy agencies came back empty handed in their report on how COVID-19 started and the China connection.
  • US President Biden was informed Tuesday night about the inconclusive results of this investigation
  • The question was and remains if the Coronavirus started naturally or was the result of a lab leak accident or experiment.

CIA Report on China

The assessment, which was ordered by US President Biden 90 days ago, highlights the administration’s difficult challenge to get more information and cooperation from the Central Chinese Government in Beijing.

Former President Trump called COVID-19 the Chinese Virus.

In the beginning of the Virus the World Health Organization (WHO) praised China in its Coronavirus response.

China hesitated to share lab records, genomic samples, and other data that could provide further illumination on the origins of the virus, according to an article on a new intelligence report published today in the Wall Street Journal.

The conclusion so far is if China is not going to give access to certain data sets, the truth will never come out.

The Wall Street Journal has covered the global quest for answers, tracking the World Health Organization, doctors and scientists in China and around the world, the U.S. intelligence community, and the vast network of disease specialists, all struggling to piece together a puzzling set of disparate clues. Here are some of the key findings.

The Wall Journal investigation found China resisted international pressure for an investigation it saw as an attempt to assign blame, delayed the probe for months, secured veto rights over participants and insisted its scope encompass other countries as well. 

The WHO-led team that traveled to China in early 2021 to investigate the origins of the virus struggled to get a clear picture of what research China was conducting beforehand, faced constraints during its monthlong visit, and had little power to conduct thorough, impartial research without the blessing of China’s government. In their final report, the investigators said insufficient evidence meant they couldn’t yet resolve when, where, and how the virus began spreading.

Reports in Chinese friendly media read: The UN agency last Friday proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China and called on China “to be transparent and open and to cooperate.”

After the WHO-China joint research concluded that it’s a waste of time to look into this dead-end theory in March, U.S. President Joe Biden followed his predecessor Donald Trump and called for another investigation on the Wuhan-based bio lab.

But many U.S. Biolabs are also among suspects of leakage, and many Chinese people have put a question mark on Fort Detrick, a US bioweapon lab set up during World War II.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Monday called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to maintain its scientific and professional position in tracing the origins of COVID-19 and firmly oppose the politicization of the matter as it prepares for the second phase of the study.

The UN agency last Friday proposed a second phase of studies into the origins of the coronavirus in China and called on China “to be transparent and open and to cooperate.”

The WHO’s proposal is inconsistent with the position of China and many countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily press briefing.

The plan for the next phase of the study of the global origin should be led by member states as agreed on the 73rd World Health Assembly resolution, Zhao said. 

“We hope that WHO and member states willfully communicate and consult with each other and widely listen to the opinions and suggestions of all parties and ensure that the drafting process of the work plan is open and transparent,” he told reporters, adding the WHO’s proposal on origins study is being studied by Chinese experts. 

Origins study is a scientific issue and requires the cooperation of scientists around the world, Zhao said, while condemning a few countries, including the U.S., for politicizing the virus.

The Chinese turned the blame around targeting a Maryland US Lab.

As of Monday afternoon, over 750,000 Chinese citizens have signed a joint letter to the WHO, demanding the organization conduct an investigation into the U.S. lab.

“The U.S. should face up to the voices of the international community including the Chinese people, and give a satisfactory account”, Zhao said. 

China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called on Washington to respond to international concerns over its bio labs and invite international experts to its soil to investigate their risks.

The search for where the virus came from has become a diplomatic issue that has fueled China’s deteriorating relations with the U.S. and many American allies. The U.S. and others say that China has not been transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic. China accuses critics of seeking to blame it for the pandemic and politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.

It looks like the truth will never come out, while thousands die every day because of whatever happened with COVID-19.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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