Washington should tell truth about its biolabs: China Daily editorial

Some politicians in Washington are pushing for the COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 to be passed, hoping that it will establish a link between the novel coronavirus and a Chinese virology lab.

They may believe that politicizing origin tracing of the virus is the way to smear China. But they are ignoring the fact that it is the United States that has the largest number of biological labs around the world, and that it is the US that rejects the Biological Weapons Convention protocol.

In other words, it is the US that owes the world answers to questions about what the US is doing with its hundreds of biological labs in various parts of the world, whether research has been conducted on biological weapons in these labs and whether some of the infectious diseases are caused by leaked viruses from some of these labs.

The Biological Threat Reduction Program of the US Department of Defense alone is reported to support 336 biolabs in 30 countries, including 26 in Ukraine. Media reports also say that the biological laboratories funded and controlled by the US in Ukraine conducted research that could be behind the increase in the number of cases of diphtheria, rubella, tuberculosis and measles in the country since 2014. Besides, the World Health Organization has included Ukraine in the list of countries with a high risk of a polio outbreak.

Facing such questions, Washington has never given a convincing answer. It only denies such reports, claiming that they are conspiracy theories. That Washington has never explicitly told the world whether it has the hundreds of labs or not can only make the world believe that it has. If it has hundreds of such labs located in various parts of the world, Washington has the obligation to tell the world why it needs so many biological labs and what these labs are actually doing.

If Washington continues to pull the wool over people's eyes by beating about the bush or just refusing to say a word about it or even tries to divert the world's attention by politicizing virus tracing, it can only make the world believe that research is being conducted on biological and chemical weapons in these labs. As the sole superpower in the world, the US needs to know how it behaves has an impact on global peace and development. It cannot take it for granted that it has the right to do whatever it believes serves its own interests without showing any concern for the well-being of the entire world.

If the US wants the world to respect it as a responsible country, it must reconsider how it behaves toward the rest of the world. On the question of its biological labs, it should tell the truth. It won't be considered trustworthy till it does.