China Refuses WHO's Phase 2 COVID-19 Investigation

Jjeongi Shin, Vice Director of China's Wuguanwei: "China Will Not Follow WHO's Phase 2 Origin Investigation Plan"
China Claims Investigation of US Military's Fort Detrick Laboratory

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] China has expressed its intention to refuse the World Health Organization (WHO)'s second phase investigation into the origins of COVID-19. China is also mobilizing domestic public opinion by launching a petition demanding an investigation into the US military's Fort Detrick laboratory.

Zheng Yixin, Deputy Director of the National Health Commission of China, stated at a press conference with Chinese media on the 22nd, "WHO is focusing on the hypothesis that China violated laboratory regulations as one of the key points of its research," adding, "China will not follow the WHO's second phase origin investigation plan."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He emphasized, "We oppose politicizing the COVID-19 origin investigation and cannot accept such an investigation plan," and added, "The second phase investigation should continue based on the first phase and should not reopen issues that already have clear conclusions."

Also attending the press conference, Yuan Zhiming, Director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said, "There has never been any leakage incident at the Biosafety Level 4 (P4) laboratory in Wuhan."

Liang Wannian, head of the Chinese team for the WHO COVID-19 first phase origin investigation, stated, "The theory of a leak from a Chinese laboratory is highly unlikely. Investigations of laboratories in other countries should be conducted," mentioning the need to investigate the US military's Fort Detrick laboratory.

The Global Times has advocated for an investigation into the US military's Fort Detrick laboratory, where the US military's past biological weapons program was conducted, in relation to the WHO's second phase COVID-19 origin investigation. The media reported that the Fort Detrick laboratory stores some of the world's most deadly and contagious viruses, including Ebola, smallpox, SARS, MERS, and new coronaviruses, emphasizing the need for a thorough investigation of this laboratory.

The outlet alleged that there was a leak incident at this laboratory around the fall of 2019, and that the US has not disclosed accurate information about the leak incident under the pretext of national security. It raised suspicions that the new coronavirus might be related to a US laboratory. It also pointed out that evidence of COVID-19 infection was found in the US in June last year, prior to the first recorded COVID-19 infection in the US in December 2019. It further explained that the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in Wuhan, China, was on December 8, 2019.

The Global Times added that as of the 21st, 5 million Chinese people have signed a letter demanding an investigation into the Fort Detrick laboratory.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on the 16th that the second phase investigation into the origins of COVID-19 should include Chinese laboratories as subjects of investigation.