China fires back at WHO’s accusations
BEIJING — Chinese officials on Saturday offered a lengthy rebuttal to accusations by the World Health Organization that they had been slow to share data about the possible origins of the coronavirus, blasting some in the organization as political “tools” whose remarks were “intolerable.”
Scientists from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention made the remarks at a news conference after weeks of mounting criticism from the WHO.
The WHO’s accusations referred specifically to the recent revelation that Chinese scientists had data on environmental and animal samples collected in Wuhan, the city in central China where the virus first emerged, that they had not shared earlier. On Thursday, a top WHO official said that China’s “lack of data disclosure is simply inexcusable.”
Shen Hongbing, the chief of China’s CDC, forcefully denied those charges.
“We did not hide any cases, samples or testing and analysis results,” he said. “It is intolerable to the Chinese scientific community and unacceptable to the global scientific community.”
He continued: “As for attempts to politicize the issue and smear China’s efforts, the global scientific community will be watching, and they will not be manipulated or fooled. We urge certain personages of the WHO to return to a science-based and objective position.”
The recent criticism from the WHO is a shift from the organization’s approach early in the pandemic; back then, it appeared wary of offending Beijing.
Then came the news last month that international scientists had discovered previously unseen gene sequences from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan on an online database. The sequences had been uploaded by Chinese researchers, including some affiliated with the country’s CDC.
The WHO rebuked Chinese officials for not sharing the data earlier. “These data could have — and should have — been shared three years ago,” WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in March.
Chinese researchers published their own study about the newly disclosed data this past week.
On Saturday, Shen of the Chinese CDC said there had been no delay in sharing the gene sequences.
“It takes time for us to come up with an article, and it takes time for us to submit and upload it,” he said. “Relevant data, if we have any, will be released in a timely manner.”