America’s COVID-19 Report: Stop the Coverup, China

Published in The Sankei News
(Japan) on 31 August 2021
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Olivia Parker.
An explanation of its origins is essential to battle the virus. It is undeniable that the first place in the world to witness COVID-19’s fury was Wuhan, China.

Yet China remains uncooperative toward efforts to uncover an explanation. The Japanese government should also firmly pressure China to release information.

The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, who oversees America’s intelligence agencies, released an outline of a report into the virus’s origins. Each agency investigated both hypotheses — that humans were infected by animals and that the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan — but evidence is insufficient and the agencies’ opinions were split, so they could not come to a firm conclusion. The investigation started this May, when President Joe Biden ordered a report within 90 days.

Although the report concludes that “the virus was not developed as a biological weapon” and believes that it was not likely genetically modified, and that it was more likely that it naturally infected people from animals, its degree of certainty was low. Of the four intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council, one assessed that the possibility of a laboratory accident was high.

In a statement, Biden criticized China for “withholding information” and announced that he, along with like-minded nations, would “press the PRC.” America conducted its own investigation due to dissatisfaction with the results of the World Health Organization’s investigation in Wuhan. In March, 14 countries, including Japan, America and Britain, expressed reservations about the WHO’s investigation, saying that it “lacked access to complete, original data and samples.”

Accordingly, the WHO proposed an additional investigation in July, but China opposed it, arguing that it “defies science. We cannot accept this kind of study.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also remarked about the recent American report, “We firmly oppose it. Stop politicizing the virus’s origins and pressuring the WHO.”

Opposition appears to be strong. Right before America released its report, the Chinese mission to Geneva sent a document to Tedros Adhanom, secretary-general of the WHO, requesting an investigation into American military facilities and universities.

COVID-19 is a calamity enveloping the world. China’s obsession with itself and its honor is inexcusable. It should release all of the relevant data it has and allow inspections by the WHO and foreign agencies.


起源の解明はウイルスとの戦いに欠かせない。世界で最初に新型コロナウイルスが猛威を振るったのが中国・武漢市だった事実は動かせない。

だが中国は、解明への努力に非協力的な姿勢を貫いている。日本政府も中国に対し、情報の開示を強く迫るべきだ。

米情報機関を統括する国家情報長官室がウイルスの起源をめぐる調査報告書の概要を公開した。各機関は、動物から人に感染した可能性と、中国・武漢市のウイルス研究所から流出した可能性の2つの仮説を検証したが、証拠が足りず、各機関の意見が割れたことから、確定的な結論は導けなかった。調査は今年5月、バイデン大統領が90日以内に報告するよう指示して始められた。

報告書は「ウイルスが生物兵器として開発されたものではない」と判断し、遺伝子操作された可能性は低いとの見方を示す一方で、動物から自然に人に感染した可能性が最も高いが、これも確信の度合いは低いとした。4つの情報機関と国家情報会議のうち1つは研究所における事故だった可能性が高いと分析したという。

バイデン大統領は声明で、中国による「情報隠し」を批判し、友好国と「圧力をかける」と表明した。米国が独自の調査に乗り出したのは世界保健機関(WHO)による武漢市調査の結果に不満があったためだ。日米英など14カ国は今年3月、WHOの調査は「完全な元データに接していない」と内容に懸念を示していた。

これを受けてWHOは7月、追加調査を提案したが、中国は「科学に背いている。このような調査を受け入れることはできない」(国家衛生健康委員会)と反発している。今回の米国の報告書についても中国の王毅外相はブリンケン米国務長官に「断固反対する。ウイルスの起源について政治問題化し、WHOに圧力をかけるのをやめよ」と伝えた。

対抗的な意味合いが強いのだろう。米国が報告書を公開する直前には在ジュネーブ中国代表部がWHOのテドロス事務局長宛てに書簡を送り、米国の陸軍施設と大学の調査を求めていた。

新型コロナは、全世界を巻き込んだ災禍である。中国の勝手や体面に構ってはいられない。中国は所有するはずの全ての関連データを開示し、WHOや各国機関の調査を受け入れるべきだ。
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