Envoys slam politicizing contagion origin tracing

Many nations urge scientific approach to investigating original cases of virus

Diplomats from China and overseas expressed their opposition to any moves that politicize the COVID-19 origin tracing issue at a briefing on Friday that stated Beijing's objection to any betrayal of the China-World Health Organization joint research report.

"No country is entitled to ignore (human) lives for its own political self-interest to politicize scientific issues and to smear and attack other countries," said Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.

The briefing was held amid rising global concerns about the WHO Secretariat's draft work plan proposed last month for a second-phase of coronavirus origin studies aimed at continuing to target China.

Following lobbying by some Western countries led by the United States, the work plan runs counter to the conclusion of the joint research report issued in March that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" to be the origin of the pandemic.

Ma said the conclusions and advice offered by the report have been recognized by the international and scientific communities, and they "must be respected and implemented by all parties, including the WHO Secretariat".

He added that: "We oppose origin tracing being driven by political manipulation, violating WHO resolutions or overturning the China-WHO joint origin tracing research report. And what we support is origin tracing based on science."

Any animal sources of the virus and the means by which it spreads to human beings "can only be found by scientists" so as to better guard against future risks and protect the life and health of all humanity, Ma said.

"The future of global origin tracing work should, and can only, be carried out on the basis of this report" rather than starting all over again on a different path, he said.

Somali Ambassador to China Awale Ali Kullane said at the Friday briefing, "Somalia is one of the 48 countries that have sent letters to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the issue of origins study."

The countries welcomed the China-WHO joint research report, saying that the study of origins is a matter of science and they stated opposition to politicizing the issue.

The countries stressed that "the virus is the common enemy of mankind and it can only be defeated by solidarity and cooperation of the international community", the ambassador said.

The WHO Secretariat is urged to "cooperate with member states to advance the study of origins in the world in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly", he added.

Ma said the WHO Secretariat should consult adequately with member states on future origin-tracing work plans, including the mechanism for follow-ups, and fully respect the views of member states.

In particular, origin tracing plans for the countries involved should be formulated in consultation with them, he added.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov said Moscow "firmly opposes any attempt to politicize the situation around COVID-19".

"What we really need at this moment is coordination of all our actions to promote transparent, multinational efforts aimed at novel coronavirus origins tracing. That's what will be helpful to overcome the pandemic," Denisov said.

The WHO "could and should play a coordinating role in combating the pandemic while operating within its mandate in compliance with the guidelines of member states and on the basis of available scientific data", he said.

Ma also made an update of China's contributions to the global COVID-19 response, saying that China has provided about 800 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to more than 100 countries, especially to developing countries.

Earlier this month, President Xi Jinping announced that China will provide 2 billion doses of vaccines to the world this year, and the country has decided to donate $100 million to the COVAX Facility for distributing vaccines to developing countries.