In a recent article published by media CPH Post Online, Chinese Ambassador in Denmark Feng Tie addresses the ongoing debate regarding the origin-tracking of Covid-19 as well as the recent statements made by Danish Ben Embarek who led a team of international scientists on a mission to China in January to work with local officials to investigate the origins of covid-19.
According to the Ambassador, China has since the outbreak of covid-19 been working closely with WHO in Covid-19 origin-tracing. “However, there have been groundless accusations against China,” Ambassador Feng Ti states. Commenting on TV2’s documentary on origin-tracing, the Ambassador writes that, “This documentary, full of specious assumptions and vague inferences, is not based on facts but presuppositions and aims to smear China and politicize the origin studying issue by misleading the audience.”
The Ambassador notes that China has attached high importance to the study into the origin of the virus and that the WHO-China joint report formed after the trip was in full compliance with WHO procedures and scientific methods. “Officially released by the WHO, the report should serve as the basis and guide for global efforts on origin-tracing. Any attempt to overturn or distort the conclusions of the joint research report is a result of political manipulation and disrespect to science and scientists from different parts of the world. In the WHO-China joint origin-tracing report, the conclusion was that laboratory leak is extremely unlikely. The report’s recommendations were to search for possible early cases on a global scale, and to study the possibility of cold-chain transmission of the virus, etc. These are scientific and objective conclusions reached by international and Chinese experts after a lot of serious and meticulous research work and discussions, which have been recognized by the international scientific community, and should be respected and maintained, the Ambassador writes.
The Ambassador states that China supports the second phase of the origin-tracing study but writes, “What China disagrees with is the politicization of origin-tracing. What China rejects is the origin-tracing that deviates from the relevant WHA resolution. And what China will not participate in is the origin-tracing that disregards the conclusions and recommendations of the first phase of the study. Origin-tracing is a serious and complex scientific question that requires the collaboration of scientists around the world and joint efforts and cooperation of governments and people of all countries. China will continue to take an active part in global cooperation on origin-tracing with a responsible, open and transparent attitude”.
According to the Ambassador, China has done all it can to constantly provide substantial support, including vaccines, to other countries and WHO. “China calls on WHO to pool the efforts of all parties including scientists to make controlling the pandemic as the top priority. China calls for further promoting Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and COVAX at a quicker pace, and developing and distributing more effective diagnostic reagents, medicine and vaccines to save lives. Based on that, the virus origin-tracing should be studied as a serious and scientific issue without any politicization. Continuous and appropriate origin-tracing on a global scale should be actively promoted and international exchanges and cooperation further enhanced.” the Ambassador concludes.
Read the full article by Ambassador Feng Tie here
