Probe on origin of the Covid virus
There
is a growing call worldwide for a thorough investigation into the origin of COVID-19. And why not?
It is a virus that has turned the whole world on its head. It has caused tens of thousands of deaths, infected millions and ruined the livelihood of several millions. And still, nobody can say with certainty how it all began.
What is an established fact so far is that the virus emerged from Wuhan in China’s Hubei Province. But China was quick to spread some early disinformation that the virus may have been introduced by the United States and thereby triggered a slanging match between the two countries. This debate over whether the virus really emerged from the disgusting meat markets of Wuhan or was man-made has only helped create a fog blurring the real picture.
The US President, partly because he wants to deflect attention from his own mishandling of the crisis at home was quick to label the virus “the China virus”. A Washington Post article says the man shaping the US President’s hardline on China is a onetime journalist who faced intimidation while reporting from China. Now the deputy national security adviser at the White House, his view is that China’s handling of the virus has been “catastrophic” and the whole world is the collateral damage of China’s internal governance problems.
The US tried to get the G-7 nations to sign a statement with the phrase “Wuhan virus”, which those countries refused to do saying it was racist. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is under fire though for bending to Chinese pressure and naming the virus – COVID-19.
Now with the US withdrawing funds from the WHO, China has stepped in with a fat cheque to the UN agency. As the big power politics plays out on the world stage over the virus, the WHO has probably lost the moral right to hold any such investigation contemplated.
The Chinese are touchy, very touchy, over any call for an investigation of this nature maintaining that their response to the crisis has always been ‘open, transparent and responsible’, and that they have been supportive of professional visits and exchanges between their experts and international scientists. One would think they should welcome an investigation if they feel it will help clear the country of worldwide condemnation.
Recently, China’s ambassador in Canberra threatened Australia with cuts in the import of wines and beef and suggested Chinese students may not want to enrol in Australian universities in the future if Australia wished to back the US call for an investigation. Beijing has clearly instructed its embassies around the world to be proactive in challenging anti-Chinese rhetoric based on COVID-19 casting all diplomatic norms aside. Such is its sensitivity to what it sees as ‘unfounded charges’. The China stance is that the international investigation, if there is any, should have a solid basis; they query why it is only targeted at China without any medical professional evidence but accusations from politicians.
It all depends, however, on what an “independent international” inquiry is. Sri Lanka has faced, and faces, so-called ‘independent international’ witch-hunts and knows only too well how utterly partisan they can be. Nor can such an investigation be like the Nuremberg trials after World War II to apportion blame and sentence culprits to the hangman for ‘crimes against humanity’.
Many countries hard done by the outbreak of COVID-19 still feel this may not be the time for an investigation as the focus remains on the expeditious eradication of the deadly virus. Given Sri Lanka’s own dependence on China, it would not want to damage its relations with Beijing’s all powerful Communist Party. In the scheme of things Lanka’s voice on the international stage would anyway be negligible.
And yet, at some stage soon, the world will have to know what happened and how it happened. And how COVID-19 knocked the world to the floor in such quick time and is likely to keep it there for a long time more.