By Lexi Lonas, The Hill — 14 October 2021
China warned against “political manipulation” in the new WHO probe into the origins of the coronavirus after the World Health Organization announced a 26-member team, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), that will renew the investigation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters Beijing will “continue to support and participate in global scientific tracing and firmly oppose any forms of political manipulation,” adding: “We hope that all parties concerned, including the WHO secretariat and the advisory group, will effectively uphold an objective and responsible scientific attitude.”
The WHO previously investigated the origins of COVID-19, finding it most likely came from an animal, but the report was heavily criticised for lacking sufficient evidence. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later agreed and said the theory the coronavirus came from a Wuhan lab should not have been dismissed so quickly. The US led its own investigation into the virus origins and also found inconclusive evidence on whether the virus was transmitted by an animal or started in a laboratory. One of the biggest reported difficulties in determining the origins of the virus has been China’s unwillingness to release requested data. Beijing has denied multiple times the virus started in a laboratory, calling the investigations a form of “political maneuvering.”