By Aaron Miller-
U.S president, Joe Biden, has called for the U.S intelligence community to investigate the origins of Covid-19 and brief him of their findings within 90 days.
Biden said the US intelligence community was split on whether it was the result of a lab accident, or whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal.
The source of the virus has long been the subject of controversy, with circulating views shifting from original thoughts the virus began from a market in Wuhan to a more accepted view it may have come from a lab.
Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, had always maintained he believes the virus was passed from animals to humans, though he conceded this month he was no longer confident Covid-19 had developed naturally.
Meanwhile, China’s embassy warned against “politicising” Covid origin tracing.
“Smear campaigns and blame shifting are making a comeback, and the conspiracy theory of ‘lab leak’ is resurfacing,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its website, which did not directly mention Mr Biden’s remarks.
“To politicize origin tracing, a matter of science, will not only make it hard to find the origin of the virus, but give free rein to the ‘political virus’ and seriously hamper international cooperation on the pandemic,” it said.
Authorities initially linked early Covid cases to a seafood market in Wuhan, leading scientists to theorise the virus first passed to humans from animals.
However, recent US media reports have suggested growing evidence the virus could instead have emerged from a laboratory in China, perhaps through an accidental leak. Views that the virus may be man made also remain in many circles.
The Biden administration has conceded that the American intelligence community is split on Covid-19’s origins , given the uncertainty around the topic.
That marks a big shift from the derision heaped on the lab theory by many in the media and politics last year, when Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senator Tom Cotton and others floated the idea.
The public may never know the full truth about the virus’ origins, particularly if China continues to be uncooperative. Mr Biden is pledging a full investigation, however, and if the US finds conclusive evidence of a lab leak, it will mean more than just a few prominent figures having to eat crow and re-evaluate their trust in authoritative “conclusions”. It could place very real strain on US-China relations for years to come.
In a White House statement released on Wednesday, President Biden said he had asked for a report on the origins of Covid-19 after taking office, “including whether it emerged from human contact with an infected animal or from a laboratory accident”.
On receiving it this month, he asked for “additional follow-up”.
Mr Biden said the majority of the intelligence community had “coalesced” around those two scenarios, but “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other”.
He concluded by saying the US would “keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence”.
Beijing has previously suggested Covid-19 could have come from a US laboratory instead.
In its statement on Wednesday, the Chinese embassy said it supported a full investigation into “some secretive bases and biological laboratories all over the world”.
The laboratory leak allegations were widely dismissed last year as a f conspiracy theory, after former U.S President Donald Trump said Covid-19 had originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In March this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report written jointly with Chinese scientists on the origins of Covid-19, saying the chances of it having started in a lab were “extremely unlikely”. The WHO acknowledged further study was needed.