Will the Origin of COVID-19 Be Revealed? "China's Complex Diplomatic Relations Hinder Investigation"

On December 23, at the entrance of a train station in Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China, which was completely locked down to prevent the spread, police officers and station staff wearing protective suits are checking the documents of a traveler.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] About two years after the first COVID-19 patient was reported, the truth regarding the origin of the virus remains undisclosed.

This is analyzed to be due to the complex political and diplomatic interests between China, where the first patient was reported, and Western countries.

According to the British Guardian on the 31st (local time), Robert Gary, a microbiology and immunology expert at Tulane University in the United States who has been tracing the origin of COVID-19, received an unusual interview request last July.

Experts from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who were ordered by U.S. President Joe Biden to investigate the origin of COVID-19, sought his opinion.

At that time, Professor Gary reportedly told them that there was no possibility that the COVID-19 virus was a biological weapon created by humans, nor was there any evidence that it leaked from a laboratory.

However, Professor Gary said, "I am well aware that there will be people who disagree with this."

This is because many believe that COVID-19 leaked from the virus laboratory in Wuhan, China, where it was first discovered.

The task of identifying the origin of a virus usually did not go beyond the realm of scientific research, as was the case with SARS in 2003 or MERS in 2015. However, COVID-19 shows a completely different pattern.

This is the result of domestic political and diplomatic interests of related countries such as China and the United States being involved.

There is also an analysis that the current situation may have been influenced by the outbreak occurring amid growing international distrust due to China's coercive and disrespectful diplomatic behavior toward neighboring countries.

Huang Yanzhong, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), said, "At first, the Chinese government seemed to want to ignore the fact that COVID-19 originated in their country."

He further analyzed that when some, including U.S. Republican Senator Tom Cotton, raised the theory that the virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs countered by saying, "A U.S. military soldier who participated in the Wuhan Military World Games brought the virus," politicizing the issue.

Earlier, China allowed the World Health Organization (WHO) investigation team to enter almost a year after the first patient appeared, in early last year. However, the controversy only grew.

This was because the WHO investigation team concluded that "the possibility of the COVID-19 virus leaking from the Wuhan laboratory is extremely low, and it is most likely transmitted to humans through an intermediate host animal," but failed to present concrete evidence.

As a result, criticism arose that the WHO effectively gave China a "get-out-of-jail-free card." Furthermore, it was revealed that key members of the WHO investigation team had close ties with the Wuhan virus laboratory, damaging the WHO's credibility.

Regarding this, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pressured China in July last year by demanding more transparent information disclosure and stating, "It is premature to rule out the theory that the COVID-19 virus leaked from the Wuhan laboratory."

However, China responded by saying, "Investigate U.S. military laboratories as well, based on the principles of fairness and justice."

As the controversy continued, the WHO formed a new investigation team of 26 experts last October to re-examine the origin of COVID-19. Experts view this investigation as likely the last chance to uncover the origin of COVID-19.

However, Senior Fellow Huang diagnosed, "China is reluctant to step forward, and the West does not trust China," adding, "As both sides continue to respond in a tit-for-tat manner, the chances for scientists to find the true origin of (COVID-19) are gradually diminishing."