US claim that coronavirus originated in Wuhan Lab is based on hearsay: Scholar

Australia's call for an independent inquiry is simply a thinly veiled call for a political inquisition against China since it is upset with the US because “the American claim that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Lab is based on hearsay and not valid intelligence data,” says Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

Australian officials say their government’s push for an inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus outbreak should not be exploited by the United States amid a row with China, which has been accused by Washington of covering up initial data on the deadly viral pandemic and the coronavirus-leak at a Chinese laboratory.

Canberra called last month for an independent inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, which apparently erupted in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year before growing into a global pandemic, and said the plea was “reasonable” and not targeted at any specific country.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, said, “The Australian position, that its call for an independent inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic is separate from US accusations that it originated at a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, is disingenuous at best.”

“Australia's original call for an investigation was done in conjunction with the US with the clear intent of targeting China as the source of the pandemic,” he added.

“The narrative that Australia and the other members of the Anglo-America 5 Eyes espionage network have promoted is that China hadn't been transparent in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak and suppressed knowledge of its initial extent and spread. These charges which are reiterated every day in the Western media are unsubstantiated and fly in the face of what actually occurred. In fact, the Chinese response was far more rapid and transparent than seen in any previous similar incipient epidemic,” he continued.  

“China could not have had any idea at the time that the novel coronavirus was first identified that it would develop into a global pandemic. Even after China locked down Wuhan and shut down the entire Chinese economy to contain and control the burgeoning epidemic, the West didn't take it seriously and allowed the virus two months to spread and infect their populations,” he said.

“Now, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that the coronavirus was far more widespread than previously thought. Credible evidence shows that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was circulating in Europe as early as November 2019, a month before its outbreak in Wuhan. Moreover, the source of the pandemic in New York City, its epicenter in the US, was Europe not China. Further evidence indicates the possibility that cases of undiagnosed influenza-like illnesses in the US and Japan during the Summer and Fall of 2019 were also actually COVID-19,” the analyst said.

Australia decries US exploitation of inquiry to promote Wuhan lab conspiracy

Australian officials say the government’s push for an inquiry into the origins of the new coronavirus outbreak should not be exploited by the United States.

“There is reason to try and trace the origins of all contagious diseases, so as to better understand how to prevent their spread in the future. That is the work of epidemiologists and other qualified scientists and medical doctors. There is also an international body, the World Health Organization (WHO) that should lead an international effort to study COVID-19's origins as a scientific inquiry,” he said.

“There is no need for any nation such as Australia to call for an independent inquiry. There is no precedent for that. Such an inquiry was not called for any previous pandemic such as the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic or the HIV/AIDS pandemic, both of which had epicenters in the US.  Australia's call for an independent inquiry is simply a thinly veiled call for a political inquisition against China. It is upset with the US because the American claim that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan Lab is based on hearsay and not valid intelligence data. It lacks credibility and undermines Australia's call for a supposedly independent inquiry that is clearly politically motivated to target China,” he said.

“China for its part has endorsed scientific investigations into the origins of COVID-19 under the auspices of the WHO. If Australia is honest in wanting to participate in scientific research regarding the origin of COVID-19 it should drop its call for an independent inquiry and join with China and other nations in forming an international team of qualified epidemiologists and other specialists to trace its origins. Politics should have nothing to do with it,” he concluded.

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