GERMANY DOUBTS US CLAIMS OF CHINA COVID-19 LAB LEAK

Germany’s defence ministry and BND foreign spy agency have privately cast doubt on American claims that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Chinese lab, media reported Friday.

An internal memo prepared for Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-karrenbauer “classifies the American claims as a calculated attempt to distract” from Washington’s own failings, Der Spiegel reported.

US President Donald Trump is attempting “to distract from his own mistakes and direct Americans’ anger at China”, Spiegel cited from the document.

A defence ministry spokesman declined to confirm the existence of the memo when contacted by AFP.

Meanwhile public broadcaster NDR cast doubt on the existence of a reported joint paper from the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance of Britain, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand that allegedly accuses China of playing down the extent of the virus outbreak.

BND chiefs told MPS in a confidential Berlin parliamentary committee hearing that its “Five Eyes” partners claimed to have “no knowledge” of such a report, NDR wrote.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office, responsible for oversight of the BND, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump on Wednesday described the coronavirus pandemic as “the worst attack we’ve ever had”, calling it “worse than Pearl Harbour... worse than the World Trade Center” and saying it “could have been stopped in China”. Germany, (Hindustan Times), 8 May 2020 -