(Dan Tri) – Of all the issues that have made US-China relations tense since the pandemic broke out, none is more sensitive than the question of the origin of Covid-19.
US President Joe Biden (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (Photo: Reuters).
Last year, China retaliated against Australia, a US ally, pushing for an independent investigation into the origins of Covid-19 by imposing tariffs on Australian barley and wine.
Since then, China has continuously responded to calls from the US and the West demanding that Beijing be more transparent about the origin of Covid-19.
This prompted an attempt to revive President Joe Biden’s lab-leaked virus theory last week – by giving US intelligence agencies 90 days to come to a more precise conclusion about Covid’s origins –
According to Bloomberg, the investigation into the origin of Covid-19 takes place at a sensitive time in US-China relations, when both countries show signs of wanting to escape the turbulence that covered former President Donald’s term.
Although President Biden still maintains his predecessor’s tariffs and sanctions against Beijing, his administration has also begun to open the door for dialogue: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a call.
This week, President Biden plans to amend a ban on US investment in companies linked to the Chinese military, after the Trump-era policy was challenged in court.
Impact on China
No matter how it is implemented, the results of the investigation into the origin of Covid-19 will have an impact on China, especially at a time when President Xi Jinping may meet President Joe Biden at the G20 summit on
After realizing that China’s tough response has damaged the country’s standing abroad, Xi Jinping this week called on Chinese officials to widen the circle of friends and improve
`The issue of the origin of the virus is closely related to China’s legitimacy, so I don’t expect China to become more transparent, but they will fight tirelessly,` Bonnie Glaser, director
`That shows that it is difficult for China to use the same forms of economic pressure on the US as they are doing against Australia, partly because China is afraid that the US will retaliate by imposing pressure on the US.
Wuhan Institute of Virology (Photo: AFP).
Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, some US intelligence officials have suggested that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have been leaked accidentally or intentionally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A report prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) with China earlier this year assessed the possibility of the virus leaking from a laboratory as `extremely unlikely`, because there is no such virus.
The above report was issued after China allowed a team of WHO experts to go to Wuhan to investigate the origin of Covid-19 in February. The report said that the most likely scenario is that the virus spread from bats to
However, the White House criticized the above report as incomplete, while WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the report was not `comprehensive` enough and that the theory of the virus leaking from the laboratory needed further investigation.
Risk of relationship tension
According to Christopher Johnson, former senior expert on China at the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and currently a researcher at the Center for International Strategic Studies, the move calls for an investigation into the origin of Covid-19.
`Finding evidence in this matter is almost impossible, so the only way to cool tensions is to talk to each other. If we cannot do that, there will be a risk of an explosion in (US-China) relations.`
According to SCMP, Chinese diplomats and senior officials at the Wuhan laboratory have repeatedly denied that this facility is the source of corona virus infection.
`How can we trust the findings of an investigation conducted by an intelligence agency, which is not reputable?`, Mr. Trieu said.
Mr. Trieu also mentioned the Fort Detrick laboratory in the US state of Maryland to reiterate a hypothesis he had long proposed that the virus may have originated in the US.
According to Hugo Brennan, an analyst at risk consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, Mr. Biden’s order means that the investigation into the origin of Covid-19 will continue for at least a few more months.
`If the US intelligence community concludes that the virus leak from the Wuhan laboratory is the cause of the pandemic, US-China relations will plummet to a new level, especially if US intelligence agrees that North
