What's new

To Protect the Future, Hold China to Account

Good this is a bipartisan effort, surprising wall street allowed this.
 
Wuhan scientist would 'welcome' visit probing lab leak theory

A Chinese scientist at the centre of unsubstantiated claims that the coronavirus leaked from her laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan has told the BBC she is open to "any kind of visit" to rule it out.

The surprise statement from Prof Shi Zhengli comes as a World Health Organization team prepares to travel to Wuhan next month to begin its investigation into the origins of Covid-19.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55364445
 
China reports 20 new COVID-19 mainland cases vs 14 a day earlier

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Mainland China recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases on Dec. 25, compared with 14 cases the previous day, the country’s health authority said on Saturday.

The National Health Commission said in its daily bulletin that 12 of the new cases were imported. Of the eight locally transmitted cases, six came from the northeastern province of Liaoning and two from the capital Beijing.

The new Beijing cases were from its Shunyi district, which has entered a “wartime state” requiring all residents to undergo testing, the state-owned China Daily reported on Saturday.

The People’s Daily reported five people had tested positive after nucleic acid tests were carried out across Beijing’s districts of Chaoyang, Shunyi and Tianzhu on Saturday.

Additionally, 19 asymptomatic cases were reported on Dec. 25, up from 17 the previous day. China does not include asymptomatic patients in its total confirmed case list.

China has now reported a total of 86,933 confirmed mainland cases, with 4,634 deaths.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...nland-cases-vs-14-a-day-earlier-idUSKBN29000L
 
China and EU poised to sign long-delayed investment deal


China and the EU appear to have resolved their differences over protecting labour rights in China and are set to sign a long-delayed investment agreement on Wednesday likely to make the economies of the two blocs more interdependent.

The investment talks have centred on opening up Chinese markets for European investment, as well as addressing Chinese practices opposed by the EU concerning industrial subsidies, state control of enterprises and forced technology transfers.

Markets likely to be opened in China include foreign investment in manufacturing including electric vehicles, telecoms and private hospitals. Issues of enforcement and arbitration have been at the heart of the talks.

China is already ranked as the EU’s second-largest trading partner (behind the US), with two-way goods commerce valued at more than €1bn (£908m) a day.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/29/china-and-eu-poised-to-sign-long-delayed-investment-deal
 
Covid-19: China approves Sinopharm vaccine for general use

Chinese authorities have given conditional approval for general public use of a coronavirus vaccine developed by state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm.

The move came a day after the firm said interim data showed its leading vaccine had a 79% efficacy rate in phase three trials, without providing more details.

Several Chinese-made vaccines at a late trial stage are already in use in China after being granted emergency licences.

The pandemic emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.

It has since spread around the world, but China has managed to bring infection rates down to very low levels through strict anti-virus measures.

The search for the source of the coronavirus has led to tensions with the West. The US - among a number of other countries - raised questions about whether China was fully transparent when the virus first emerged there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55498197
 
COVID-19: WHO scientists arrive in Wuhan to begin investigating origins of pandemic

World Health Organisation (WHO) experts have arrived in Wuhan to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, Chinese state media has confirmed.

The team of 10 virologists and other scientists will spend around a month in the Chinese city where COVID-19 first emerged over a year ago.

After spending the first two weeks in quarantine, the WHO team will investigate scientists' claims the virus jumped from animals to humans elsewhere in China before the first cases were detected at the Huanan wet market in Wuhan.

It comes after the team - who come from the UK, US, Australia, Germany, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam - were stopped from entering the country earlier this month.

Some of the experts had already left their home countries and were on their way when China said they would not be allowed in due to incomplete checks.

WHO had been in talks with China since July, but the experts were refused entry on 6 January.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time: "Today, we learned that Chinese officials have not yet finalised the necessary permissions for the team's arrival in China.

"I'm very disappointed with this news, given that two members had already begun their journeys and others were not able to travel at the last minute, but had been in contact with senior Chinese officials."

According to reports, the Chinese government has been strictly controlling all research into the origins of the virus and state-owned media have played up claims it could have originated elsewhere.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said recently that "more and more research suggests that the pandemic was likely to have been caused by separate outbreaks in multiple places in the world".

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are on the rise again in China, with officials reporting its first virus-related death in months.

According to the National Health Commission, 43 new cases have been recorded in Heilongjiang province, with most concentrated near the capital city of Harbin.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticised China for denying the team entry
A further 81 infections have been logged in Hebei province near Beijing and 14 from outside of China.

This made Thursday the second day in a row that the nationwide tally of infections rose into triple digits.

More than 20 million people are in lockdown in Hebei, Beijing and beyond in the hope of stemming the spread ahead of Chinese New Year.

Officials are urging people not to travel, with some routes suspended and schools ending a week early to reduce chances of infection.
 
Hope we find out where it really came from so all the conspiracy theories and innuendo can be put to rest.
 
China is not the origin, the Chinese have stated this multiple times.

Covid19 has been found in Europe months before its thought to have originated in Wuhan.
 
The US says it has intelligence that researchers in a Wuhan lab became sick with COVID-19-like symptoms in autumn 2019 - before the first identified case of the outbreak
 
WHO team, on tightly controlled China mission, visits hospital

WUHAN, China (Reuters) - The World Health Organization-led team investigating the origins of COVID-19 during a mission that has been tightly controlled by its Chinese hosts visited a hospital on Saturday in the central city of Wuhan that treated early coronavirus patients.

On its second day after two weeks in quarantine, the team went to Jinyintan Hospital, where doctors had collected samples from patients suffering from an unidentified pneumonia in late 2019.

“Important opportunity to talk directly w/ medics who were on the ground at that critical time fighting COVID!”, team member Peter Daszak said on Twitter.

Team members leaving the hospital did not speak to journalists, who have been kept at a distance since the group left its quarantine hotel on Thursday.

“Just back from visit at Jinyintan hospital, that specialised in infectious diseases and was designated for treatment of the first cases in Wuhan. Stories quite similar to what I have heard from our ICU doctors,” team member Marion Koopmans tweeted.

The WHO-led probe has been plagued by delays, concern over access and bickering between Beijing and Washington, which accused China of hiding the extent of the initial outbreak and criticised the terms of the visit, under which Chinese experts conducted the first phase of research.

The WHO, which has sought to manage expectations for the mission, said on Friday that team members would be limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and would not have any contact with community members, due to health restrictions.

Exactly a year ago, the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alarm.

The group’s itinerary has not been announced but the WHO has said the team plans to visit the seafood market at the centre of the early outbreak as well as the Wuhan Institute of Virology. One hypothesis, rejected by China, is that the outbreak was caused by a leak at the government lab.

Later on Saturday, the WHO team went to an exhibition centre that features an exhibit commemorating early efforts to battle the outbreak in Wuhan, which included a 76-day lockdown of the city of 11 million.

The investigating team had been set to arrive in Wuhan earlier in January, and China’s delay of their visit drew rare public criticism from the head of the WHO, which former U.S. President Donald Trump accused of being “China-centric”.

China has pushed the idea that the virus existed abroad before it was discovered in Wuhan, with state media citing the presence of the virus on imported frozen food packaging and scientific papers saying it had been circulating in Europe in 2019.

China’s foreign ministry has also hinted that the sudden closure of a U.S. army laboratory at Fort Detrick in Maryland in July 2019 was linked to the pandemic.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...d-china-mission-visits-hospital-idUSKBN29Z0AD
 
WHO team probing COVID-19 visits Wuhan lab, meets 'Bat Woman'

WUHAN, China (Reuters) -A team of investigators led by the World Health Organization visited a virus research laboratory in China’s central city of Wuhan and met with a prominent virologist there in its search for clues to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The experts spent about 3-1/2 hours at the heavily-guarded Wuhan Institute of Virology, which has been at the centre of some conspiracy theories that claim a laboratory leak caused the city’s first coronavirus outbreak at the end of 2019.

“Extremely important meeting today with staff at WIV including Dr Shi Zhengli. Frank, open discussion. Key questions asked & answered,” team member Peter Daszak said on Twitter.

Shi, a well-known virus hunter who has long focused on bat coronaviruses - earning her the nickname “Bat Woman” - was among the first last year to isolate the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Most scientists, including Shi, reject the hypothesis of a lab leak. However, some experts speculate that a virus captured from the wild could have figured in lab experiments to test the risks of a human spillover and then escaped via an infected staff member.

“Very interesting. Many questions,” Thea Fischer, a Danish member of the team, called from her car as it sped away from the lab following Wednesday’s visit, in response to a question whether the team had found anything.

Some scientists have called for China to release details of all coronavirus samples studied at the lab, to see which most closely resembles SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the respiratory disease.

The WHO, which has sought to manage expectations for the Wuhan mission, has said its members would be limited to visits organised by their Chinese hosts and have no contact with community members, because of health restrictions.

While the novel coronavirus that sparked the pandemic was first identified in Wuhan, Beijing has sought to cast doubt on the notion that it originated in China, pointing to imported frozen food as a possible conduit.

The team will spend two weeks conducting field work after having completed two weeks in hotel quarantine after arrival in Wuhan.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...isits-wuhan-lab-meets-bat-woman-idUSKBN2A309F
 
Elon Musk denies Tesla cars are used for spying in China

Elon Musk, the chief executive of the US electric carmaker Tesla, says his firm would be "shut down" if its vehicles were used for spying on China.

His comments came in response to reports that China's military had banned Tesla cars from its facilities.

The military had raised security concerns about the data collected by cameras installed in the cars.

China is Tesla's largest market after the US, accounting for about a quarter of the firm's global sales in 2020.

On Saturday, Mr Musk said if a business did engage in spying on a foreign government, "the negative effects for that company would be extremely bad".

"There's a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information," Mr Musk told an influential Chinese business forum via video link. "If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down."

There has long been unease about the presence of big American companies operating in China and vice versa.

Relations between China and the US - the world's biggest two economies - are at their most strained for years.

Earlier this week, officials from both countries traded angry words in the first high-level talks between the Chinese government and the administration of US President Joe Biden.

Mr Musk urged greater mutual trust between China and the US, where Tesla is based in California.

He sought to downplay concerns over companies sharing sensitive data with their home governments, referencing the case of the Chinese-owned video platform TikTok.

Last year, former President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the US over concerns that users' data could be handed over to the Chinese government.

"Even if there was spying, what would the other country learn and would it actually matter?," Mr Musk said.

Elon Musk's car firm won approval for its Shanghai factory in 2018, becoming the first foreign automaker to operate a wholly owned plant in China.

China is the world's largest car market and its government has been heavily promoting the adoption of electric vehicles. This demand helped Tesla make a profit of $721m (£519m) in 2020.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56471681.
 
Chinese military and health officials discussed weaponising coronavirus in 2015, claims 'leaked' doc

The document shows the Chinese officials describing SARS coronaviruses as heralding a "new era of genetic weapons” that can be “artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus", the Australian media reported.
MONEYCONTROL NEWS MAY 09, 2021 / 11:12 PM IST
Representative image
Representative image
The Chinese military and senior public health officials discussed "weaponising" coronavirus, claims a "leaked" document dating back to 2015, the Australian media has reported.

Details of the document, titled 'The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons', was obtained by The Australian newspaper.

The document showed the purported Chinese officials discussing that bio-weapons could be produced at "0.05 per cent of the cost of traditional weapons", the daily reported.

Also Read: China honours 'Bat Woman' of controversial Wuhan lab as WHO team arrives to probe COVID-19 origins

The paper was obtained by the US State Department during its investigation into the origins of SARS-COV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 infection, the reports said.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

Show
RELATED STORIES
Cipla, Jubilant to face action if they fail to fulfill supply obligation of Remdesivir within 24 hou...
Key economic data for April, May not to be affected as compared to last year: Pronab Sen
‘You’ve Lost Your Sparkle’: What to do when burnout hits
Among the authors of the document were Lee Feng, former deputy director of China’s Bureau of Epidemic Prevention, and Xu Dezhong, the former chief of China's SARS Epidemic Analysis Expert Group, the Australian media claimed.

The document shows the Chinese officials describing SARS coronaviruses as heralding a "new era of genetic weapons” that can be “artificially manipulated into an emerging human disease virus, then weaponised and unleashed in a way never seen before”, The Australian reported.

Robert Potter, a cybersecurity specialist who analysed the document obtained by the Australian media, said it does not appear to be fake.

"We reached a high confidence conclusion that it was genuine … It’s not fake but it’s up to someone else to interpret how serious it is,” news.com.au quoted Potter as saying.

The 2015 document is featured in the upcoming book What Really Happened in Wuhan, by Australian journalist Sharri Markson.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) chief Peter Jennings said the document is significant amidst the suspicion over China's alleged role in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The document "clearly shows that Chinese scientists were thinking about military application for different strains of the coronavirus and thinking about how it could be deployed", he told news.com.au.

Notably, Australia was among the first countries that called for an independent investigation to ascertain the reason behind the COVID-19 outbreak. The country has expressed a lack of confidence over Beijing's claim that coronavirus began spreading from a wet market in Wuhan.

The Chinese state-run Global Times, while reacting to the Australian media reports over the "leaked" 2015 document, accused them of spreading false information. They are "embarrassingly twisting" an open book as evidence against China, it said.

The book was published by Xu Dezhong in 2015 and was put on sale on Amazon, the Global Times claimed. "The book suggests that SARS epidemic during 2002 and 2004 in China originated through an unnatural way of genetic modification originating from abroad," the nationalist tabloid stated.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/w...s-in-2015-claims-leaked-document-6872551.html
 
Leaked Chinese document reveals a sinister plan to ‘unleash’ coronaviruses

A leaked 2015 government paper has revealed a discussion by top Chinese scientists who said a virus could be “unleashed in way never seen before”.


Riah Matthews
riahmatthews
MAY 8, 20217:45PM
Video
Image
Wuhan Institute of Virology is ‘still genetically manipulating’ bat-coronaviruses
A document written by Chinese scientists and Chinese public health officials in 2015 discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronavirus, reveals the Weekend Australian.

Titled The Unnatural Origin of SARS and New Species of Man-Made Viruses as Genetic Bioweapons, the paper predicted that World War Three would be fought with biological weapons.

Released five years before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it describes SARS coronaviruses as a “new era of genetic weapons” that can be “artificially manipulated into an emerging human *disease virus, then weaponised and unleashed in a way never seen before”.

Peter Jennings, the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), told news.com.au that the document is as close to a “smoking gun” as we’ve got.

“I think this is significant because it clearly shows that Chinese scientists were thinking about military application for different strains of the coronavirus and thinking about how it could be deployed,” said Mr Jennings.

“It begins to firm up the possibility that what we have here is the accidental release of a pathogen for military use,” added Mr Jennings.

He also said that the document may explain why China has been so reluctant for outside investigations into the origins of COVID-19.

“If this was a case of transmission from a wet market it would be in China’s interest to co-operate … we’ve had the opposite of that.”

RELATED: Key detail pins China for virus leak

A micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. Picture: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / AFP.
A micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particle. Picture: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases / AFP.Source:AFP

Among the 18 listed authors of the document are People’s Liberation Army scientists and weapons experts.

Robert Potter, a cyber security specialist who analyses leaked Chinese government documents was asked by The Australian to verify the paper. He says the document definitely isn’t fake.

“We reached a high confidence conclusion that it was genuine … It’s not fake but it’s up to someone else to interpret how serious it is,” Mr Potter told news.com.au.

“It emerged in the last few years … they (China) will almost certainly try to remove it now it’s been covered.”

Mr Potter says it isn’t unusual to see Chinese research papers discussing areas that they’re behind on and need to make progress in and that doesn’t necessarily equate to action being taken.

“It’s a really interesting article to show what their scientific researchers are thinking,” he added.

The document is discussed in a new book What really happened in Wuhan by The Australian investigations writer Sharri Markson which will be published by HarperCollins in September.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been caused by a coronavirus named SARS-Co V-2 which emerged in December 2019. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, several of which cause respiratory diseases in humans – ranging from a common cold to Severe Acute Respiritory Syndome (SARS).

NED-3586 How Coronavirus mutates - 0
Investigations by the World Health Organisation (WHO) have concluded the virus was most likely of animal origin and crossed over to humans from bats.

Director of public health pathology Dominic Dwyer went to Wuhan in January as the Australian representative as part of WHO investigations into the origins of COVID-19.

He told The Conversation in February that the Wuhan wet market, which was initially blamed as the source of the virus, may not be the original source of the disease.

RELATED: WHO backtracks on COVID lab leak

Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a “wet market’’ where exotic animals are kept alive in cages, and butchered for meat. Picture: Supplied.
Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a “wet market’’ where exotic animals are kept alive in cages, and butchered for meat. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied

“The market in Wuhan, in the end, was more of an amplifying event rather than necessarily a true ground zero. So we need to look elsewhere for the viral origins,” said Mr Dwyer.

On the hypothesis that the virus escaped from a lab, Mr Potter said that was highly unlikely.

“We visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is an impressive research facility, and looks to be run well, with due regard to staff health,” wrote My Dwyer.

“We spoke to the scientists there. We heard that scientists’ blood samples, which are routinely taken and stored, were tested for signs they had been infected. No evidence of antibodies to the coronavirus was found. We looked at their biosecurity audits. No evidence.”

The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) eliminated a controversial theory that COVID-19 came from a laboratory in Wuhan. Picture: Hector RETAMAL / AFP.
The P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province. Experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) eliminated a controversial theory that COVID-19 came from a laboratory in Wuhan. Picture: Hector RETAMAL / AFP.Source:AFP

In March WHO reported on their Wuhan visit and called for further investigations into the origins of COVID-19.

“As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table … We have not yet found the source of the virus, and we must continue to follow the science and leave no stone unturned as we do,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began there have been 156 million cases of COVID-19 and 3.26 million deaths worldwide.

Riah Matthews is the commissioning editor for news.com.au.

https://www.news.com.au/world/coron...s/news-story/53674e8108ad5a655e07e990daa85465
 
lol China allowed a top secret document to find its way into the hands an Aussie paper.

Are Indians now saying the debacle in their country is because Covid19 is a biological weapon?
 
lol China allowed a top secret document to find its way into the hands an Aussie paper.

Are Indians now saying the debacle in their country is because Covid19 is a biological weapon?

Bro you need to stop supporting the Chinese. Their regime is the most inhumane in this world today.
 
I will brother if the Indians can prove China made Covid19, a biological weapon. Do you believe this?

It is difficult to say because it is difficult to prove but at the same time their lack of transparency and communication when COVID-19 was spreading everywhere in China, suggests you can't rule out the "biological weapon" theory as the motive behind their lack of disclosure.
 
Last edited:
you wont even see it if i put it on the table infront of you so whats the point?

lol. Others might.

It seems you are struggling to point out this evidence. Perhaps you should back up your claims before accusing others? Can you show us the evidence or not?
 
lol. Others might.

It seems you are struggling to point out this evidence. Perhaps you should back up your claims before accusing others? Can you show us the evidence or not?

because you never accept facts, youve made your mind up already - China is the savior of the world sent by god and now nothing is going to change your mind on it.
 
because you never accept facts, youve made your mind up already - China is the savior of the world sent by god and now nothing is going to change your mind on it.

China would be the last people on Earth to save Muslims. They're the most inhumane out of the regions around the world.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Theres enought evidence to suggest it originates from the wuhan lab

I can’t be sure it was from a Chinese lab, however:

1. Anyone who thinks that China doesn’t have a bio weapons program is naive.

2. It is a huge coincidence that Wuhan where the virus started is also the site of a Chinese virus lab.
 
China would be the last people on Earth to save Muslims. They're the most inhumane out of the regions around the world.

China already has a plan to save Muslims, just ask the Ugyhurs. Forced sterilizations, wives being forced to share their bed with male monitors while their husbands rot in concentration camps, no closing restaurants during Ramadan etc.
 
 
So what would be the purpose of China deliberately releasing a bio weapon globablly? Wasn't China already the fastest rising economy in the world? I would think such a move would suit their enemies more as they would be able to rally others countries to try and stop the rise of the Asian powerhouse.
 

None of this proves its a bio-weapon from China or am I missing something?
 
I can’t be sure it was from a Chinese lab, however:

1. Anyone who thinks that China doesn’t have a bio weapons program is naive.

2. It is a huge coincidence that Wuhan where the virus started is also the site of a Chinese virus lab.

Would you like India to go to war with China? Surely this is then an act of war?
 
China already has a plan to save Muslims, just ask the Ugyhurs. Forced sterilizations, wives being forced to share their bed with male monitors while their husbands rot in concentration camps, no closing restaurants during Ramadan etc.

China is excepted in the selective outrage manual. Please dont bring this up again ever.
 
Would you like India to go to war with China? Surely this is then an act of war?

Well, if this was proven beyond doubt - it holds China accountable to the whole world not just India. Unless your selective bias allows you to ignore deaths in your country just because the perpetrator is China.

Personally, I do think there is some dirty Microbiology science that has happened between US & China through gain of function research that has caused this accident - this has been fact checked as a conspiracy theory. Though too many pointers & coincidences still for me.
 
Well, if this was proven beyond doubt - it holds China accountable to the whole world not just India. Unless your selective bias allows you to ignore deaths in your country just because the perpetrator is China.

Personally, I do think there is some dirty Microbiology science that has happened between US & China through gain of function research that has caused this accident - this has been fact checked as a conspiracy theory. Though too many pointers & coincidences still for me.

So far it seems its mainly Indians suggesting this. India will far surpass all other nations with numbers or deaths. So if India can prove but others are not sure, you will go to war with the Dragon?
 
Please detail why you believe China created Covid19 a bio weapon. Should be a fun read. :afridi

Bioweapons are a reality not just with China. Most militaries (including India) have NBC warfare techniques & response SOPs against such attacks. Its the same as why China (US & India) would test ASAT weapons. India has unilaterally prohibited itself to acquire/make Bioweapons. China does not have a red line in anything.
 
So far it seems its mainly Indians suggesting this. India will far surpass all other nations with numbers or deaths. So if India can prove but others are not sure, you will go to war with the Dragon?

Its not black and white. It will never be proven beyond doubt.

*If* it does, India should retaliate - though I think China will have much bigger things to worry than India.
 
Would you like India to go to war with China? Surely this is then an act of war?

If intentional, then it is indeed an act of war on the US, Europe, India, Japan etc. Difficulty in continuing a war in the modern world is MAD due to nukes.

I doubt it was intentional. It could have been an unintentional release. Or quite likely it could have just come from nature instead of a lab.

Given how they are treating the Ugyhurs, I think the CPC is quite capable of doing terrible things, just a bit better than the NK madman.
 
Theres enought evidence to suggest it originates from the wuhan lab

There is none whatsoever. Virologist have come out and said there is no trace of human involvement in the SARS-COV-2 genetic code. That's pretty conclusive to me. WHO couldn't find anything at all too.

Point me to one scientific paper worth it's weight that presents this evidence you speak of. And no, opinion pieces in the Times or the Australian don't count and the less said about what politicians think, the better.

Finally it makes zero sense for China to release a virus, that they have no control over first to its own shores. So that their population, economy is the first one to take a hit, when there was no treatment, no vaccines nor any idea of what the virus does. For all they knew the virus could have had a much much high CFR(it's the cousin of SARS after all). With the transmissibility it has, it would have been absolutely devastating to China.

This is not how science or viruses or artificial biological interventions work, but conspiracy theories sure do.
 
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/origins-covid-19-need-be-investigated-further-leading-scientists-say-2021-05-14/

The origin of the novel coronavirus is still unclear and the theory that it was caused by a laboratory leak needs to be taken seriously until there is a rigorous data-led investigation that proves it wrong, a group of leading scientists said.

COVID-19, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed 3.34 million people, cost the world trillions of dollars in lost income and upended normal life for billions of people.

"More investigation is still needed to determine the origin of the pandemic," said the 18 scientists, including Ravindra Gupta, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Cambridge, and Jesse Bloom, who studies the evolution of viruses at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

"Theories of accidental release from a lab and zoonotic spillover both remain viable," the scientists including David Relman, professor of microbiology at Stanford, said in a letter to the journal Science.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/694.1

The authors of the letter said the World Health Organization's investigation into the origins of the virus had not made a "balanced consideration" of the theory that it may have come from a laboratory incident.

In its final report, written jointly with Chinese scientists, a WHO-led team that spent four weeks in and around Wuhan in January and February said the virus had probably been transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" as a cause.

But there are myriad different ideas about the origin of the virus including a series of conspiracy theories.

"We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data," the scientists said, adding that an intellectually rigorous and dispassionate investigation needed to take place.

"In this time of unfortunate anti-Asian sentiment in some countries, we note that at the beginning of the pandemic, it was Chinese doctors, scientists, journalists, and citizens who shared with the world crucial information about the spread of the virus—often at great personal cost."
 
It "seems" to you that it is mainly Indians, but that's just your bias. The belief is rather widespread. This is one of the most authoritative voices:

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-new...e-thinks-covid-19-originated-in-a-chinese-lab

Ive not see any mainstream tv news channel in Europe making reports to suggest Covid came out of a lab, while I have seen Indian news channels asserting its pretty much proven.

The main reasons given are, Wuhan had a lab, Its very contagious, spread very quickly.

It needs to proven scientifically.
 
Top scientists call for deeper inquiry into COVID-19 origins

Theres enought evidence to suggest it originates from the wuhan lab

Care to share because im not a mind reader? :inti

Ive not see any mainstream tv news channel in Europe making reports to suggest Covid came out of a lab, while I have seen Indian news channels asserting its pretty much proven.

You are probably watching too much Indian news channels. Discussion in this thread restarted with a couple of posts by [MENTION=150069]Lego20[/MENTION] the second of which was from an Australian media source with the headline "Chinese military and health officials discussed weaponising coronavirus in 2015, claims 'leaked' doc".

The main reasons given are, Wuhan had a lab, Its very contagious, spread very quickly.

It needs to proven scientifically.

Some leading scientists think that WHO is abetting a coverup by China.

A full World Health Organization (WHO) report into the origins of the virus was published in March and said the virus most likely jumped from an intermediate animal to humans. The report said it was “extremely unlikely” the virus escaped from a government lab in Wuhan. Investigators were not able to determine exactly how and when the original transmission took place.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called the report an “important beginning” but noted it failed to find the source of the virus.

That report was criticized by many who argued the investigation was not extensive enough as access to raw data was restricted by Chinese authorities.

The letter published Thursday notes that while there were no findings in clear support of either a natural spillover or lab accident, the team of investigators assessed the zoonotic spillover from an intermediate host theory as “likely to very likely” and the lab accident theory as “extremely unlikely.”

“The two theories were not given balanced consideration,” the letter states.

“As scientists with relevant expertise, we agree with the WHO director-general, the United States and 13 other countries and the European Union that greater clarity about the origins of this pandemic is necessary and feasible to achieve,” the scientists said.

“We must take hypotheses about both natural and laboratory spillovers seriously until we have sufficient data. A proper investigation should be transparent, objective, data-driven, inclusive of broad expertise, subject to independent oversight, and responsibly managed to minimize the impact of conflicts of interest.”

The letter follows several similar public statements from groups of scientists all over the world calling for a new and more transparent investigation.

https://thehill.com/changing-americ...call-for-deeper-inquiry-into-covid-19-origins
 
Last edited:
You are probably watching too much Indian news channels. Discussion in this thread restarted with a couple of posts by [MENTION=150069]Lego20[/MENTION] the second of which was from an Australian media source with the headline "Chinese military and health officials discussed weaponising coronavirus in 2015, claims 'leaked' doc".

I know of these report & im actually open to the view its a man made virus but we need more than just conjecture, we need science to prove this. There is someone who can, do you know who?

Some leading scientists think that WHO is abetting a coverup by China.

Ive watched a couple on youtube of mainstream Indian news channels. You wont hear the same rhetoric by western news channels apart from Sky News Australia or perhaps Fox news. But they havent gone as far as the Indian channels.



Im actually open to the idea its a manufactured virus
 
WHO is a joke. It also said there was no human to human transmission. As long as the idiot, non medico is WHO head, there is no chance of any genuine findings about the origin of the wuhan virus from Who.
 
not a single missile fired but china has gained a lot
 
Wuhan lab staff sought hospital care before COVID-19 outbreak disclosed - WSJ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital care in November 2019, a month before China reported the first cases of COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing a U.S. intelligence report.

The newspaper said the previously undisclosed report - which provides fresh details on the number of researchers affected, the timing of their illnesses, and their hospital visits - may add weight to calls for a broader investigation into whether the COVID-19 virus could have escaped from the laboratory.

The Journal said current and former officials familiar with the intelligence expressed a range of views about the strength of the report's supporting evidence, with one unnamed person saying it needed "further investigation and additional corroboration."

The first cases of what would eventually be known as COVID-19 were reported at the end of December 2019 in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the advanced laboratory specialising in coronavirus research is located.

Chinese scientists and officials have consistently rejected the lab leak hypothesis, saying SARS-CoV-2 could have been circulating in other regions before it hit Wuhan, and might have even entered China from another country via imported frozen food shipments or wildlife trading.

China's foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said on Monday that it was "completely untrue" that three members of staff at WIV had fallen ill.

"The United States continues to hype up the lab leak theory," he said. "Does it care about traceability or is it just trying to distract attention?"

The Journal report came on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization's decision-making body, which is expected to discuss the next phase of an investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

Asked about the report, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said via email that the organisation's technical teams were now deciding on the next steps. He said further study was needed into the role of animal markets as well as the lab leak hypothesis.

A U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman had no comment on the report but said the Biden administration continued to have "serious questions about the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its origins within the Peoples Republic of China."

She said the U.S. government was working with the WHO and other member states to support an expert-driven evaluation of the pandemic's origins "that is free from interference or politicization."

"We're not going to make pronouncements that prejudge an ongoing WHO study into the source of SARS-CoV-2, but we've been clear that sound and technically credible theories should be thoroughly evaluated by international experts," she said.

A joint study into the origins of COVID-19 by the WHO and China published at the end of March said it was "extremely unlikely" that it had escaped from a lab.

But China was accused of failing to disclose raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO team, and the United States, the European Union and other Western countries called on Beijing to grant "full access" to independent experts.

A State Department fact sheet released near the end of the Trump administration said "the U.S. government has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses." It did not say how many researchers.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Gabriel Crossley in Beijing, David Stanway in Shanghai and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andrew Heavens)

https://news.yahoo.com/wuhan-lab-staff-sought-hospital-215837238.html?guccounter=1
 
Probably the best discussion of the origins of the virus, and the attempt by various parties to mislead the public is found here. The author is a former New York Times science reporter:

https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/

The Daszak and Andersen letters were really political, not scientific, statements, yet were amazingly effective. Articles in the mainstream press repeatedly stated that a consensus of experts had ruled lab escape out of the question or extremely unlikely. Their authors relied for the most part on the Daszak and Andersen letters, failing to understand the yawning gaps in their arguments. Mainstream newspapers all have science journalists on their staff, as do the major networks, and these specialist reporters are supposed to be able to question scientists and check their assertions. But the Daszak and Andersen assertions went largely unchallenged.

...

This was surprising because both the SARS1 and MERS viruses had left copious traces in the environment. The intermediary host species of SARS1 was identified within four months of the epidemic’s outbreak, and the host of MERS within nine months. Yet some 15 months after the SARS2 pandemic began, and after a presumably intensive search, Chinese researchers had failed to find either the original bat population, or the intermediate species to which SARS2 might have jumped, or any serological evidence that any Chinese population, including that of Wuhan, had ever been exposed to the virus prior to December 2019. Natural emergence remained a conjecture which, however plausible to begin with, had gained not a shred of supporting evidence in over a year.

...

Baric and Shi referred to the obvious risks in their paper but argued they should be weighed against the benefit of foreshadowing future spillovers. Scientific review panels, they wrote, “may deem similar studies building chimeric viruses based on circulating strains too risky to pursue.” Given various restrictions being placed on gain-of function (GOF) research, matters had arrived in their view at “a crossroads of GOF research concerns; the potential to prepare for and mitigate future outbreaks must be weighed against the risk of creating more dangerous pathogens. In developing policies moving forward, it is important to consider the value of the data generated by these studies and whether these types of chimeric virus studies warrant further investigation versus the inherent risks involved.”

That statement was made in 2015. From the hindsight of 2021, one can say that the value of gain-of-function studies in preventing the SARS2 epidemic was zero. The risk was catastrophic, if indeed the SARS2 virus was generated in a gain-of-function experiment.

...

The grants were assigned to the prime contractor, Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance, who subcontracted them to Shi. Here are extracts from the grants for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. (“CoV” stands for coronavirus and “S protein” refers to the virus’s spike protein.)

“Test predictions of CoV inter-species transmission. Predictive models of host range (i.e. emergence potential) will be tested experimentally using reverse genetics, pseudovirus and receptor binding assays, and virus infection experiments across a range of cell cultures from different species and humanized mice.”

“We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that % divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential.”

What this means, in non-technical language, is that Shi set out to create novel coronaviruses with the highest possible infectivity for human cells. Her plan was to take genes that coded for spike proteins possessing a variety of measured affinities for human cells, ranging from high to low. She would insert these spike genes one by one into the backbone of a number of viral genomes (“reverse genetics” and “infectious clone technology”), creating a series of chimeric viruses. These chimeric viruses would then be tested for their ability to attack human cell cultures (“in vitro”) and humanized mice (“in vivo”). And this information would help predict the likelihood of “spillover,” the jump of a coronavirus from bats to people.

[MENTION=76058]cricketjoshila[/MENTION] [MENTION=140824]Last Monetarist[/MENTION] [MENTION=150069]Lego20[/MENTION] @Ch Tab
 
Last edited:
Probably the best discussion of the origins of the virus, and the attempt by various parties to mislead the public is found here. The author is a former New York Times science reporter:

https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-people-or-nature-open-pandoras-box-at-wuhan/

[MENTION=76058]cricketjoshila[/MENTION] [MENTION=140824]Last Monetarist[/MENTION] [MENTION=150069]Lego20[/MENTION] @Ch Tab

I was in Shanghai when the virus emerged in Hubei Province at the end of December 2019, none of the Chinese people I worked with, some of them from Hubei, believed the official story of it originating in the wet market and there being no links with the virology institute. There was a crackdown on Chinese social media such as Weibo and WeChat by the censors at the start of January 2020 to prevent people from sharing data. Journalists and healthcare professionals that tried to speak up in Hubei were silenced and arrested.

The guileless clowns that keep defending the CCP are worth contempt.
 
I was in Shanghai when the virus emerged in Hubei Province at the end of December 2019, none of the Chinese people I worked with, some of them from Hubei, believed the official story of it originating in the wet market and there being no links with the virology institute. There was a crackdown on Chinese social media such as Weibo and WeChat by the censors at the start of January 2020 to prevent people from sharing data. Journalists and healthcare professionals that tried to speak up in Hubei were silenced and arrested.

The guileless clowns that keep defending the CCP are worth contempt.

The following article is a pretty good summary of how the mainstream media misled the people.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...edia-theory-china-wuhan-lab-cotton-trump.html
 
I was in Shanghai when the virus emerged in Hubei Province at the end of December 2019, none of the Chinese people I worked with, some of them from Hubei, believed the official story of it originating in the wet market and there being no links with the virology institute. There was a crackdown on Chinese social media such as Weibo and WeChat by the censors at the start of January 2020 to prevent people from sharing data. Journalists and healthcare professionals that tried to speak up in Hubei were silenced and arrested.

The guileless clowns that keep defending the CCP are worth contempt.

Are you saying Covid19 is a man made virus?
 
Are you saying Covid19 is a man made virus?

You have to be clear about what you mean by "man made"?

A virus made by taking bits and pieces of different viruses is man made. The covid virus doesn't seem to have been created in this manner.

However, a virus taken from nature and given conditions in a lab where its mutations are selected on the basis of whether they can infect humans can also be called man made. This is called "gain of function" research. There is quite a bit of support for the covid virus having been created by such a process.

It is documented that Shi was doing "gain of function" research in the Wuhan lab. From the article by Wade:

The grants were assigned to the prime contractor, Daszak of the EcoHealth Alliance, who subcontracted them to Shi. Here are extracts from the grants for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. (“CoV” stands for coronavirus and “S protein” refers to the virus’s spike protein.)

“Test predictions of CoV inter-species transmission. Predictive models of host range (i.e. emergence potential) will be tested experimentally using reverse genetics, pseudovirus and receptor binding assays, and virus infection experiments across a range of cell cultures from different species and humanized mice.”

“We will use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test the hypothesis that % divergence thresholds in S protein sequences predict spillover potential.”

What this means, in non-technical language, is that Shi set out to create novel coronaviruses with the highest possible infectivity for human cells. Her plan was to take genes that coded for spike proteins possessing a variety of measured affinities for human cells, ranging from high to low. She would insert these spike genes one by one into the backbone of a number of viral genomes (“reverse genetics” and “infectious clone technology”), creating a series of chimeric viruses. These chimeric viruses would then be tested for their ability to attack human cell cultures (“in vitro”) and humanized mice (“in vivo”). And this information would help predict the likelihood of “spillover,” the jump of a coronavirus from bats to people.
 
Last edited:
You have to be clear about what you mean by "man made"?

A virus made by taking bits and pieces of different viruses is man made. The covid virus doesn't seem to have been created in this manner.

However, a virus taken from nature and given conditions in a lab where its mutations are selected on the basis of whether they can infect humans can also be called man made. This is called "gain of function" research. There is quite a bit of support for the covid virus having been created by such a process.

It is documented that Shi was doing "gain of function" research in the Wuhan lab. From the article by Wade:

Both are defintions of man made. I know what gain of function is, this is a very serious experiment of using virus, making them mega-viruses and then finding some sort of cure.

So you believe it's man made. I also have reservations of it being a natural virus, so im not totally disagreeing.

The question then arises, if China is behind this virus due to gain of function experiments or is there another power behind it?

Did you know the US was funding the Wuhan lab?
 
Both are defintions of man made. I know what gain of function is, this is a very serious experiment of using virus, making them mega-viruses and then finding some sort of cure.

So you believe it's man made. I also have reservations of it being a natural virus, so im not totally disagreeing.

The question then arises, if China is behind this virus due to gain of function experiments or is there another power behind it?

Did you know the US was funding the Wuhan lab?

There are many reasons to believe that virus came from the Wuhan lab, though nothing can be determined with 100% certainty if the Chinese government doesn't share data.

For example, if there was an animal from which the virus jumped to humans then other animals of this specie would show the presence of the virus. No specie has been found.

I doubt the US was trying to develop bioweapons in a Chinese lab.
 
Chinese state media is turning on Fauci amid Wuhan lab controversy

Hong Kong (CNN)After weeks of facing fierce attacks from Republicans, top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci now has a new critic: Chinese state media.

"US elites degenerate further in morality, and Fauci is one of them," was the headline of a blistering opinion piece penned by Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-run Global Times this week.

In the article Hu accused the top US infectious disease expert of "fanning a huge lie against China" by hyping the theory that the coronavirus was leaked from a Wuhan lab. Another article in the Global Times declared that Fauci had "betrayed Chinese scientists."

The anger is centered on Fauci's remarks this month that he is no longer convinced the Covid-19 pandemic originated naturally.
"I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China until we continue to find out to the best of our ability what happened," said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at a fact-checking symposium on May 11.

The comments appear to be a shift from Fauci's earlier view that the disease likely was the result of animal to human transmission.

Fauci's comments were followed by a Wall Street Journal exclusive, citing a US intelligence report, that said three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care — a revelation that, if true, could add weight to growing calls for further investigation into whether the coronavirus may have escaped from the Chinese lab.

Unsurprisingly, China has vehemently refuted the report, echoing its repeated dismissal of any allegations that link the origin of the virus to the lab. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the report was "totally inconsistent with the facts" and a director at the lab called the report "a complete lie."
In the meantime, Chinese state media has lashed out at Fauci, saying he has joined an "opinion war against China."

The attack on Fauci is an about-face from the positive portrayal of him in earlier coverage. Last year, as Fauci repeatedly spoke out against the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic, Chinese state media published glowing reports praising the scientist for his professionalism and courage to speak the truth.

Fauci has since attempted to clarify his remarks. On Tuesday, he told CBS News correspondent Weijia Jiang that his opinion about the origins of Covid-19 have not changed and still believes that its origin in nature is "highly likely."

"Since no one is 100% sure, he's open to a thorough investigation. Dr. Fauci said that does not mean he believes the virus first emerged in a lab, as some have suggested," Jiang wrote on Twitter.
Whether that will redeem his image in China, however, remains unclear.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/26/china/china-wuhan-lab-coronavirus-mic-intl-hnk/index.html
 
US President Joe Biden has ordered intelligence agencies to investigate the emergence of Covid-19, amid growing controversy about the virus's origins.

In a statement, Mr Biden asked US intelligence groups to "redouble their efforts" and report to him within 90 days.

Covid-19 was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.

More than 168 million cases have since been confirmed worldwide and at least 3.5 million deaths reported.

Authorities linked early Covid cases to a seafood market in Wuhan, and scientists believed the virus first passed to humans from animals.

But recent US media reports suggest growing evidence the virus could instead have emerged from a laboratory in China.

Beijing has condemned the reports and suggested it could have come from a US laboratory instead.
 
China has denounced US efforts to further investigate whether Covid-19 came from a Chinese lab.

US President Joe Biden has called on intelligence officials to "redouble" their work to find out how the virus was first transmitted to humans.

China's foreign ministry accused the US of "political manipulation and blame shifting".

It has rejected any link between Covid-19 and a virus research lab in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019. Since then, more than 168 million cases have been confirmed worldwide and about 3.5 million deaths reported.

Authorities linked early Covid cases to a seafood market in Wuhan, leading scientists to theorise that the virus had first passed to humans from animals.

But recent US media reports have suggested growing evidence the virus could instead have emerged from a laboratory in China, perhaps through an accidental leak.

BBC
 
Hypocrisy rears its ugly head again, if mainstream media had played an honest role at the start of the crisis instead of tedious grandstanding against Donald Trump, maybe China won't have gotten away with the biggest state crime perpetrated on the planet since WWII.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/27/facebook-lifts-ban-on-posts-claiming-covid-19-was-man-made

Facebook has lifted a ban on posts claiming Covid-19 was man-made, following a resurgence of interest in the “lab leak” theory of the disease’s onset.

The social network says its new policy comes “in light of ongoing investigations into the origin”.

In February, Facebook explicitly banned the claim, as part of a broad policy update aimed at “removing more false claims about Covid-19 and vaccines”. In a public statement at the time, it said: “Following consultations with leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), we are expanding the list of false claims we will remove to include additional debunked claims about the coronavirus and vaccines.”

Anyone posting claims that Covid-19 was “man-made or manufactured” could have seen their posts removed or restricted, and repeatedly sharing the allegation could have led to a ban from the site entirely.

On Wednesday, the company said: “In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of Covid-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made from our apps. We’re continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge.”

The change follows a Wall Street Journal report that US intelligence sources believe there is some evidence to warrant further investigation of the “lab leak” theory. According to the newspaper, three staff members at the Wuhan Institute for Virology sought hospital treatment for flu-like symptoms in November 2019. Others have criticised the reporting, noting that it still relies on circumstantial evidence and speculation.

Facebook is keen to ensure that a change in one rule doesn’t lead to a free-for-all for Covid misinformation. On the same day that it lifted the ban on lab-leak theories, it tightened up restrictions on users who “repeatedly share misinformation on Facebook”.

Under the new rules, individual Facebook users who repeatedly share content that has been rated false will have all their posts suppressed, even ones that have not been – or have yet to be – rated false. Additionally, users who like a page that has repeatedly shared false information will now be given a pop-up notice, warning them of the posting history.

“Whether it’s false or misleading content about Covid-19 and vaccines, climate change, elections or other topics, we’re making sure fewer people see misinformation on our apps,” Facebook said in a statement.

The company has come under fire this year for its failure to act on misinformation “superspreaders”: individual users with hundreds of thousands, or millions, of followers who regularly post false claims about Covid-19.
 
Lab Or Human Contact? US Intelligence Community Divided On COVID-19 Origin

A statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) describes an intelligence community split over competing theories for the origin of virus.

Washington: The US intelligence community on Thursday acknowledged its agencies had two theories on where COVID-19 originated, with two agencies believing it emerged naturally from human contact with infected animals and a third embracing a possible laboratory accident as the source of the global pandemic.
A statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) describes an intelligence community split over competing theories for the origin of virus.

"The US Intelligence Community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was transmitted initially but has coalesced around two likely scenarios," the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said, adding that the majority believes there is not "sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other."

"While two elements of the IC lean toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter - each with low or moderate confidence - the majority of elements within the IC do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other," Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Strategic Communications Amanda Schoch said in a statement, referring to the FBI, Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.

A statement from President Biden on Wednesday ordered the intelligence community to redouble its efforts to ascertain the origins of the virus and "report back to me in 90 days."

"As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China," Biden said in a statement.

Post President Biden's statement China's U.S. embassy said politicising the origins of COVID-19 would hamper further investigations and undermine global efforts to curb the pandemic. The embassy said on Thursday that "some political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and (the) blame game."

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinas-wuhan-lab-or-human-contact-us-intelligence-community-divided-on-covid-19-origin-2450862
 
India Supports Calls For Detailed Studies On Origins Of Coronavirus


There were growing demands by several countries to investigate whether the virus originated in China's Wuhan in late 2019 from an animal source or from a lab accident in December 2019.


New Delhi: India on Friday supported renewed global calls for a comprehensive investigation by the WHO into the origins of COVID-19, days after US President Joe Biden asked American intelligence agencies to find out how coronavirus emerged in China.
There were growing demands by a sizeable number of countries including the US and Australia to investigate whether the virus originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 from an animal source or from a laboratory accident in December 2019.

In March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) came out with a report on the origins of the virus but it had failed to meet the expectations of the US and several other leading countries.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the follow up of the WHO report and further studies deserve the understanding and cooperation of all.

"The WHO convened global study on the origin of COVID-19 is an important first step. It stressed the need for next phase studies as also for further data and studies to reach robust conclusions," he said.

Mr Bagchi was responding to media queries on the issue.

"The follow up of the WHO report and further studies deserve the understanding and cooperation of all," he said.

During the probe by the WHO earlier this year, the US and several other countries expressed concerns over Chinese authorities not providing complete data to the WHO team probing the origin of the virus.

President Biden had on Wednesday ordered the US intelligence agencies to "redouble" their efforts in investigating the emergence of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and report back to him in 90 days.

"I have now asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyse information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days," Biden had said.

"As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China. I have also asked that this effort include work by our national labs and other agencies of our government to augment the intelligence community's efforts," the US president had said.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/india-supports-calls-for-detailed-studies-on-origins-of-coronavirus-2451193
 
There are many reasons to believe that virus came from the Wuhan lab, though nothing can be determined with 100% certainty if the Chinese government doesn't share data.

For example, if there was an animal from which the virus jumped to humans then other animals of this specie would show the presence of the virus. No specie has been found.

I doubt the US was trying to develop bioweapons in a Chinese lab.

The US was funding work in Wuhan, surprised you dont know this. One being EcoHealth Alliance. The US has its won bioweapons labs of course but they were involved in Wuhan, its silly to deny this.

Maybe it wasnt the Chinese but the US, who released a virus to blame China?
 
The US was funding work in Wuhan, surprised you dont know this. One being EcoHealth Alliance. The US has its won bioweapons labs of course but they were involved in Wuhan, its silly to deny this.

Maybe it wasnt the Chinese but the US, who released a virus to blame China?
So US released a virus in China, then 100s of 1000s of Americans died of it.
 
The US was funding work in Wuhan, surprised you dont know this. One being EcoHealth Alliance. The US has its won bioweapons labs of course but they were involved in Wuhan, its silly to deny this.

Maybe it wasnt the Chinese but the US, who released a virus to blame China?

Read what I wrote carefully.

I did not say the US was not funding Wuhan.

I said it wasn't trying to develop bioweapons in Wuhan. The US may or may not have bioweapons programs in the US, but to think it was trying to develop bioweapons in Wuhan which was easily accessible to the Chinese Army is absurd.

If you think that the US deliberately released the virus with the goal of blaming China, I really don't have time for this kind of nonsense.
 
Read what I wrote carefully.

I did not say the US was not funding Wuhan.

I said it wasn't trying to develop bioweapons in Wuhan. The US may or may not have bioweapons programs in the US, but to think it was trying to develop bioweapons in Wuhan which was easily accessible to the Chinese Army is absurd.

If you think that the US deliberately released the virus with the goal of blaming China, I really don't have time for this kind of nonsense.

I never suggested this is what I think or believe. Im asking you if you are also keeping this option on the table with an open mind? In Oct 2019 there was a world military games in Wuhan, with US personnell present. There are reports of an American contracting the virus soon after back in the US.

When you are funding a lab which is experimenting with viruses you have to accept some sort of responsiblity with their work too.

Please go ahead and explain what you BELIEVE? Was it an accident or deliberate attempt by China to release a man made virus?
 
I never suggested this is what I think or believe. Im asking you if you are also keeping this option on the table with an open mind? In Oct 2019 there was a world military games in Wuhan, with US personnell present. There are reports of an American contracting the virus soon after back in the US.

When you are funding a lab which is experimenting with viruses you have to accept some sort of responsiblity with their work too.

Please go ahead and explain what you BELIEVE? Was it an accident or deliberate attempt by China to release a man made virus?

3 things I believe are most likely:

1) The virus came from the Wuhan lab. No animal has been found with virus in spite of an extensive search.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/28/inside-chinas-exhaustive-search-for-covid-positive-animals/

2) The Chinese military engages in bioweapons research and collaborates with the different virus labs in China.

3) It was an accidental release. The Chinese are crazy enough to do "gain of function" virus research without proper safeguards, but not that crazy to release the virus deliberately.
 
3 things I believe are most likely:

1) The virus came from the Wuhan lab. No animal has been found with virus in spite of an extensive search.

https://nypost.com/2021/05/28/inside-chinas-exhaustive-search-for-covid-positive-animals/

2) The Chinese military engages in bioweapons research and collaborates with the different virus labs in China.

3) It was an accidental release. The Chinese are crazy enough to do "gain of function" virus research without proper safeguards, but not that crazy to release the virus deliberately.

This is what the US might claim in the coming months. China will of course refute this. What next? US and the world will wage war on China? Also why arent the US or Indian government openly stating this? Surely they know as much as you do.
 
This is what the US might claim in the coming months. China will of course refute this. What next? US and the world will wage war on China? Also why arent the US or Indian government openly stating this? Surely they know as much as you do.

Don't forget that Chinese banks invested/loaned $2.5 billion to a private equity firm partly owned by Biden's drug-addict son Hunter. Biden is going to make a lot of noise but not going to take any strong action against the Chinese.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-we-know-about-hunter-bidens-dealings-in-china-11570181403

India is probably waiting for more facts to come, which will most likely come from US investigations. India is not united, it is a democracy. So whatever the government says, it has to say carefully.

Even if India came out and said openly that the virus came from a Chinese lab doing "gain of function" research, how will it benefit India? It can only benefit if it acts together with the Western countries, not if it goes at it alone. Have to wait for a year or so to see where this goes.
 
This is what the US might claim in the coming months. China will of course refute this. What next? US and the world will wage war on China? Also why arent the US or Indian government openly stating this? Surely they know as much as you do.

What Western democracies, Japan and India should do is to cut off economic ties with China as long as it is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (which also is committing genocide against the Uyghurs). However these are democracies, so they are soft and won't take action which will mean real change. There are enough lobbies in these countries (to which Hunter Biden also belongs) which profit from China trade, and these lobbies will block real action.
 
Don't forget that Chinese banks invested/loaned $2.5 billion to a private equity firm partly owned by Biden's drug-addict son Hunter. Biden is going to make a lot of noise but not going to take any strong action against the Chinese.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-we-know-about-hunter-bidens-dealings-in-china-11570181403

India is probably waiting for more facts to come, which will most likely come from US investigations. India is not united, it is a democracy. So whatever the government says, it has to say carefully.

Even if India came out and said openly that the virus came from a Chinese lab doing "gain of function" research, how will it benefit India? It can only benefit if it acts together with the Western countries, not if it goes at it alone. Have to wait for a year or so to see where this goes.

What Western democracies, Japan and India should do is to cut off economic ties with China as long as it is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (which also is committing genocide against the Uyghurs). However these are democracies, so they are soft and won't take action which will mean real change. There are enough lobbies in these countries (to which Hunter Biden also belongs) which profit from China trade, and these lobbies will block real action.

If China knowingly hasnt told the world it came from a lab & from their research it can be classed as an act of war with millions dying while in China more have prob died of falling over. China holds US $ bonds, is the biggest trader on Earth, has a powerful military etc. Nothing can be done to China, prob best for India to accept it and move on.
 
If China knowingly hasnt told the world it came from a lab & from their research it can be classed as an act of war with millions dying while in China more have prob died of falling over. China holds US $ bonds, is the biggest trader on Earth, has a powerful military etc. Nothing can be done to China, prob best for India to accept it and move on.

It may be an act of war, but obviously no one is going to start lobbing missiles. We live in an era of nukes, and war is not an option.

But continuing with business as usual should not be an option too. The idiot Democrats in the US have put a huge number of sanctions on Russia but when it comes to China they do nothing. Maybe if they stopped being so stupid something could be done.

India alone won't do anything other than maybe some sort of economic retaliation (like kicking Huawei out), but this needs action by the democracies working together against CPC.
 
British spies believe Wuhan Covid lab leak theory is ‘feasible’: Report

The hypothesis of the introduction of Covid-19 through a laboratory incident had gained a lot of traction in the early days of the pandemic but was largely dismissed as a conspiracy theory.


The controversy around the possible leak of the Sars-CoV-2 virus from the Chinese city of Wuhan has received another boost. According to a Sunday Times report, British intelligence officials believe it is “feasible” that the pandemic began after a virus leak from a Wuhan laboratory. The British spies are now investigating the theory of a possible leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to the report.

Quoting people familiar with the development, the British daily said that a recent reassessment of the possible source of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has prompted UK intelligence to investigate the lab leak theory. Sharing renewed concerns over virus origin, American diplomatic sources said that the world is “one wet market or bio lab away from the next spillover”, reported The Sunday Times.

The hypothesis of the introduction of Sars-CoV-2 through a laboratory incident had gained a lot of traction in the early days of the pandemic but was largely dismissed as a conspiracy theory. A global study, convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), also deemed it “extremely unlikely” after international experts visited Wuhan in January this year.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/british-spies-believe-wuhan-covid-lab-leak-theory-is-feasible-report-101622374947571.html
 
Find Covid-19 Origin Or Face "Covid-26 And Covid-32", Warn US Experts

A World Health Organization report released in March didn't fully uncover the virus's origin but called a lab leak unlikely. The global health body called for more investigation at that time.


The world needs the cooperation of the Chinese government to trace the origins of Covid-19 and prevent future pandemic threats, two leading U.S. disease experts said Sunday.
Information to support the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, has increased, said Scott Gottlieb, a commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the Trump administration who now sits on the board of Pfizer Inc.

China hasn't provided evidence to disprove that theory, while the search for signs that the virus emerged from wildlife hasn't yielded results, Gottlieb said on CBS News's "Face the Nation."

Not knowing how the pandemic started puts the world at risk of future outbreaks, Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, said in a separate TV appearance.

"There's going to be Covid-26 and Covid-32 unless we fully understand the origins of Covid-19," Hotez said on NBC's "Meet the press."

Almost a year and half after the new pathogen was first detected spreading in a seafood market in Wuhan, China, the precise origins of the virus remain obscure. Scientists have hypothesized that it most likely spread from wild animals to humans. The idea that the virus may have accidentally escaped from a research lab, long promoted by some Republicans, has gotten renewed attention from the Biden administration.

In a surprise statement on Wednesday, President Joe Biden called for a renewed investigation into the virus's emergence. U.S. intelligence agencies had conflicting assessments of whether it was more likely the virus crossed the species barrier from a natural reservoir or leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Biden said. He ordered the agencies to "redouble their efforts" and report to him again in 90 days.

Debate over the virus's origin was fueled anew by a Wall Street Journal report on May 23 that three researchers from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care for "symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness."

Scientists should be allowed to conduct a long-term investigation in China and take blood samples from humans and animals, Hotez said. The U.S. should pressure China, including with the threat of sanctions, to allow for an inquiry.

"We need a team of scientists, epidemiologists, virologists, bat ecologists in Hubei province for a six-month, year-long period," Hotez said.

Chinese officials have disputed the Wuhan lab theory. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday dismissed Biden's inquiry as an attempt to engage in "stigmatization, political manipulation and blame-shifting."

A World Health Organization report released in March didn't fully uncover the virus's origin but called a lab leak unlikely. The global health body called for more investigation at that time.

"As far as WHO is concerned, all hypotheses remain on the table," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement when the March report was released.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/find-covid-19-origin-or-face-covid-26-and-covid-32-warn-us-experts-2452694?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll
 
While China has the lead, Western multinationals are starting to move their production to other countries like Vietnam. While Pakistan may not get to China's level, it can get a share of Western FDI. That is pretty much the only feasible way to utilize Pakistan's rich human talent pool.

The problem is that Chinese companies have pre-empted this by investing and setting up operations in Vietnam and Thailand. During Trump's trade war, a lot of Chinese goods were conveniently repackaged as originating from Vietnam and exported to the US. Some of these companies, including a renewables manufacturer I know first-hand, were clumsy with the packaging and are currently fighting lawsuits in the US.

The world is paying a huge price for the west's complacency towards China over the last three decades. The fact that the Democratic establishment in the US are now practically carrying on Trump's policy against China tells you all you need to know about the horrendous crime that has been perpetrated over the last 18 months.
 
Back
Top