Wuhan COVID-19 origin conspiracy theory revived

At first, it was dismissed as a conspiracy theory, but now the idea is gaining traction and international attention,  that COVID-19, may have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

This was a claim that former US President Donald Trump had made, going so far as calling it the Chinese virus, but what has led to the recent rise in popularity of this theory?

The possibility that the virus leaked out of a laboratory in Wuhan was never really dismissed outright in the first place.

Coronavirus origins questioned again

The coronavirus or Covid-19 as it became known may have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan.

A recent report on the origins of COVID-19 by a US government National Laboratory concluded that the hypothesis of virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation.

My take is that the American government is changing its attitude from time to time and aimed more at being anti Donald Trump and anti China than anything else, it doesn't recognize that it really was a bio warfare weapon, as I and others firmly believe.

Michael J Springmann, Former US Diplomat

This was apparent when, as recently as last week, US President Joe Biden announced that intelligence needs to be gathered on the origins of the virus.

US intelligence agencies are considering two likely scenarios; that the virus resulted from a laboratory accident, or that it emerged from human contact with an infected animal.

Beijing likens COVID lab leak claims to WMD lies that preceded Iraq invasion

China has compared allegations that the new coronavirus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan with US false claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction which triggered the 2003 war.

Meanwhile US government sources said a classified American intelligence report circulated during the Trump administration alleged that the three researchers at China's Wuhan Institute of virology became so ill in November 2019 that they sought hospital care.

US officials have accused China of not being transparent about the virus’s origin; a charge which Beijing denies.

The US moves to shift the blame of COVID-19 is no different from its lies in Iraq's position of weapons of mass destruction.

The international community should be vigilant about this, I'm sure such moves will be rejected by people with insight.

We urge the US to stop politicizing this study of origins, smearing China,  adopt an open and transparent attitude on this issue, shoulder its due responsibilities and invite WHO experts for origin studies in the US.

Wang Wenbin, Spokesperson, Chinese Foreign Ministry

Though numerous questions arise from this, one that clearly needs to be addressed is why the US president is highlighting the results of the intelligence findings at this point in time?

US China crisis

The novel coronavirus that has infected millions across the globe has sent Sino-American ties tumbling since the start of 2020.

Was he not previously aware of the intelligence reports, like during the transitional period when Trump was still in power?

My take again is that Biden was, and the Democratic Party were, doing this as a result of their opposition to Trump and to make him look bad.

He's now involved in investigating this because it makes China look bad. And China is now the new enemy.

Michael J Springmann, Former US Diplomat

The WHO at one point clearly rejected the hypothesis that the virus was a result of a laboratory leak or that it may have originated from a lab in Wuhan. They even had a team in Wuhan to investigate this and the head of the World Health Organization mission, said it was "extremely unlikely" that the virus spread from a lab leak in the city of Wuhan.

Now over a year since the start of the outbreak several Western powers and prominent scientists have publicly declared the findings of the WHO to be woefully inadequate.

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They have stated that those findings relied on data collected by Chinese officials. This has led many to conclude that the US is taking political advantage of this in order to gain points against China.

Yes indeed, the US is doing this to obtain political advantage over China to paint them as an enemy, it has ignored its own involvement in the matter in the past, and is ignoring its own flip flopping over the last year and a half.

Michael J Springmann, Former US Diplomat

The US and China are competing in several arenas on the world stage from sensitive issues like Taiwan and the South China Sea to intelligence and 5G.  The US has labeled China its biggest national security threat, whether it would go these lengths to falsely level an accusation of this magnitude remains to be seen.

China blasts probe into COVID origin; warns US ‘could meet its Waterloo’

China has lambasted a newly-announced probe by the Biden administration into the origin of coronavirus, warning that Washington “could meet its Waterloo in this battle.”

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