China flaunts French connection to Wuhan lab

Beijing, May 7

China, on Thursday, said the bio lab in Wuhan, which is in the eye of the storm in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, is a Sino-French cooperation project with its staff trained in France, even as it sounded ambivalent about agreeing for the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) probe into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Accusing the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, of fabricating lies over the involvement of the virology lab in Wuhan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying sought to deflect criticism over its role by highlighting its French connection.

“Maybe, he still doesn’t know the P4 Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) lab is a China-French government cooperation project and it followed international standards in its design construction and management,” Hua told a media briefing, here, while responding to Pompeo’s allegations.

“The first batch of the staff were trained at French labs,” she said, adding that its equipment was tested every year by internationally recognised third parties.

In the recent days, US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Pompeo have claimed that the deadly virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak was first detected last December.

Hua again asked Pompeo to show “enormous evidence” he has to prove that the novel coronavirus originated from the lab in Wuhan. “He (Pompeo) contradicts himself. He is making lies to cover up other lies. It is an open secret,” she said.

About President Trump’s assertion that COVID-19 attack was worse than that of the Pearl Harbour attack in the World War-II and the September 1, 2001 terrorist attack, Hua said in such a case, the enemy was COVID-19, not China.

“If it can be compared to the Pearl Harbour or 9/11 attack, so the enemy the US faces is COVID-19. The US should work with China as a comrade in the fight instead of enemy. Because, only with the concerted efforts we can win this war against the virus,” she said.

“But regrettably, we see some in the US officials shifting the blame which we believe is wrong,” she added.

While China contained the virus attack in over two months, the US, despite being a highly developed country, had not succeeded yet, she said.

Since emerging in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December, the COVID-19 is confirmed to have infected 1.2 million Americans, killing more than 73,000.

Hua sounded ambivalent about China agreeing for an inquiry by the World Health Organisation (WHO) into the origin of the pandemic.

Asked about reports that Chen Xu, China’s ambassador to the United Nations institutions in Geneva, backed the WHO probe, Hua said: “We have never said we oppose the WHO. We have been supporting the WHO’s work. (We’re) Cooperating with the WHO in an open and transparent manner including tracing the origin. At an appropriate time, we will have a conclusion on that. But we oppose the US and some other countries trying to politicise this issue and conduct investigations on the presumption of guilt,” she said.

“So in the future, if it is good for human beings to deal with similar pandemics, Chinese side can do whatever it can to achieve good results and make all contributions,” she added.

She reiterated that the issue of the origin of COVID-19 was a scientific matter and should be assessed by scientists and professionals.

Besides attacking China over the virus emanating from Wuhan, Trump is also deeply critical of the WHO accusing it of siding with Beijing in mismanaging and covering up the spread of the virus. He also suspended over $400 million funding for the WHO, pending an inquiry. PTI