Biden’s investigation into the origin of the coronavirus opens a new front between the US and China

WASHINGTON.- A new front is emerging in the rivalry between the United States and China. United States intelligence agencies have in their hands a a large amount of evidence on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that they have not yet finished examining in depth, a crucial revelation for the president Joe biden order them to redouble their efforts to answer the question of how the worst global health crisis of the last century began, which has already killed 3.5 million people.

The report Biden requested to complete settling the question of whether the virus passed from an animal to a human or whether it emerged from a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has opened a new front of conflict between Washington and Beijing, the main rivalry in the current global geopolitical scenario.

Biden’s move came after officials in the intelligence community, which is divided over the origin of the virus, told the White House that they had a large body of evidence that needed further computer analysis that could shed light on the onset of the virus. The pandemic, he indicated The New York Times. Leak suggests US government still has information on Chinese communications, the movement of laboratory workers and the pattern of the first outbreak of the disease in Wuhan, China.

In a sharp turn from the White House, Biden this week ordered the intelligence community to “redouble their efforts” to come to a definitive conclusion. on whether the pandemic started because the virus passed from an infected animal to a human, or whether it was the result of a laboratory accident or human error at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, a hypothesis which until a few months ago was ruled out by the country’s authorities and was considered a conspiracy theory.

Biden’s decision came after an international investigation by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Chinese government has indicated that the possibility that the virus accidentally came out of a lab was “extremely unlikely.” But the WHO science mission has been severely prevented from carrying out its work in China due to Beijing’s strict control. Biden’s decision suggests the White House now thinks the WHO has done what it can to investigate and answer questions about how the crisis began and now is the time to build on its own intelligence structure to try to dispel the prevailing doubts.

The White House said the two investigations were not “mutually exclusive” and that the twist was just a continuation of the Biden administration’s policy and position.

Biden’s message to the intelligence community with his order offers a twist that could have huge geopolitical repercussions. The possibility that the virus originated from an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has always been part of the pandemic debate, but has never had more space than it is today. The US government’s final response could end up throwing responsibility on China, in addition to affecting Beijing’s link with Washington and the rest of the world.

The Biden administration has said that one of its foreign policy priorities is to address China’s growing geopolitical challenge.

Beijing rejected Washington’s suggestion that the pandemic could have originated from a lab accident and sought to direct suspicion to the United States. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accused Washington of “spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation” by breathing life into the laboratory theory. Lijian said the Biden administration was not interested in “the facts or the truth” and revived a long-standing accusation from China that so far lacked evidence: that a US military base in Frederick, in Maryland, could be implicated in the origin of the virus. .

“There are more than 200 biological laboratories spread around the world. How many secrets are there, Lijian asked.

Investigation of the World Health Organization (WHO) in China failed to fully clarify questions about the origin of the pandemic and renewed global claims to Beijing, which, since the start of the crisis, has evolved in secrecy and access limited to international scientists and researchers. After the results of the joint China-WHO investigation were released in March, the organization’s director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, admitted that the laboratory leak theory needed further study, acknowledging that he did not believe that “This assessment was sufficiently thorough”.

Andy Slavitt, senior White House adviser on the coronavirus pandemic response, called for more transparency from China this week.

“We believe we need to get to the bottom of this, and we need a fully transparent process from China. We need the WHO to help us in this area. We don’t feel like we have that now, ”Slavitt said. “This is a fundamental priority for us,” he noted.

This week, an article by The Wall Street Journal He raised suspicion by revealing that Washington sources familiar with intelligence reports and analysis said a still-classified report from the country, which circulated under President Donald Trump, claimed that three researchers from the Chinese Institute of Virology in Wuhan were so sick. sought hospital care.

Conocé The Trust Project