Why China will block Covid probe

Holman Jenkins

China will never allow outside investigators to pinpoint the origins of Covid-19—even if it emerged in nature, said Holman Jenkins. To get beyond “circumstantial” evidence, investigators would need full access to scientists at its Wuhan virology lab and workers and customers of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, including blood testing. China won’t permit that, but not necessarily because it’s covering up the worst-case scenario—a man-made virus that escaped from the lab. “The truth is, China’s government would be as likely to cover up a natural occurrence as it would a lab accident.” China had long been criticized for allowing “wet markets” like the one in Wuhan to continue; mixing exotic animals taken from the wild increases the chances of a mutated virus making a leap into humans. So Beijing is frantically denying even that possibility, claiming the virus was likely brought into Wuhan by foreign athletes during the October 2019 Military World Games. In coming months, China’s “estrangement from the world” will grow as it blocks any real investigation. Sadly, Western governments fearing an escalation of tensions will probably “move on quickly from the lab theory without resolving it.”