The World Health Organization’s clean chit to China does not come as a surprise at all. After all, no organisation in the world can effectively conduct a probe on the origins of a deadly virus almost 15 months after its outbreak and with the havoc it has created on the world economy and order. Reports about the origin of the novel coronavirus, first reported in China’s Wuhan, had trickled in late 2019. In the next two months, it assumed pandemic proportions and the rest, as they say, is history.
Scientific journals and experts in the field of virology strongly believe that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan. What needed probing was the sequence of the spread of the virus and its route from animals or birds to human beings. Another aspect of the investigation was to determine if it was a laboratory experiment gone terribly wrong due to mutation, or an induced DNA sequence change. The WHO has said the lab theory, popularised by former US President Donald Trump, was “extremely unlikely”.
Even if the coronavirus had begun spreading from China, with a global lockdown, total stoppage of travel and an authoritarian Xi Jinping regime clamping down on the affected area, no genuine probe could have taken place.
Also read: ‘Extremely unlikely’ Covid virus came from lab leak, probably came from animal host, says WHO
Can’t overlook China’s history
A WHO team had already visited China sometime in July 2020 to find the origin of the virus. The team is believed to have consisted of a limited number of persons whose names were not disclosed. The WHO was unlikely to find evidence of the coronavirus coming from a lab even then.
In its latest report, the WHO has categorically said that “it is extremely unlikely” that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a Chinese lab. According to reports, the Joe Biden administration is expected to scrutinise the findings. Any such scrutiny, besides creating further schism between the two estranged powers, is not likely to reveal more information than what is available now.
What can’t be brushed away is the history, motives and consequences of China’s forays into the world of biotechnology.
One of the world’s largest biological research, genomics and techno-industry company, the BGI Group, the same company that sold millions of Covid-19 test kits, has reportedly worked with China’s military (the People’s Liberation Army) “on research that ranges from mass testing for respiratory pathogens to brain science”, a Reuters review of research, patent filings and other documents found.
These organisations are sitting over a large chunk of strategic data and information, which can be dangerous in the wrong hand.
It is no secret that some of the biggest research and manufacturing institutions in China are pure and simple extensions of the Chinese military establishment. In fact, the Chinese military does not hide its intention of carrying out research on the use of biotechnology for military purposes.
Also read: Countering China is now a priority for both India and US. But only one needs the other
China’s agenda
The coronavirus may not have come from a Chinese lab, but it’ll be hard to ignore China’s experiments and intentions with biotechnology.
China Military Online is the official news portal of the Central Military Commission and is funded by the PLA. It is an important platform for communicating the agenda of the army and the party to institutions and the industry.
In one article written in 2015, Biotechnology will become the new strategic commanding heights of the future military revolution, the author, He Fuchu, argues that major technological inventions that have changed the pattern of human warfare are closely related to the development and progress of biology. Quoting Engels, he confirms the agenda of the PLA saying, “….as the golden key to understanding and cracking the mystery of biological evolution, the core of imitating and using biology, and the means of fusion of information, nanometer and other cutting-edge technologies, will drive the innovation and development of national defense science and technology, and give rise to weaponry, combat theory, and war patterns”.
Nothing about the use of bioweapons to suit China’s ascendency is left to the imagination when the article mentions that, “As the weaponisation of biological bodies will become a reality in the future, non-traditional combat styles will take the stage, and the ‘biological frontier’ will become a new frontier for national defence”.
There is no doubt that China’s military has a very close partnership with the Chinese Communist Party, and both are headed by the same person, who is also currently the president of the country. The joint objective of all three is to increase and expand China’s economic and military capability to match those of the United States. Other middle powers can wait.
Meanwhile, we have a WHO that is too late on the ground and thus giving a chance to China to wash its hands off the Covid mess.
Seshadri Chari is the former editor of ‘Organiser’. Views are personal.
Interesting point, Bill Gates also mentions bio terrorism as a imminant threat after this pandemic. In other words the act can be done by a proxy state or an organization.
WHO has sold out to China long ago. Anyone who believes this report has to have their head examined! China is guilty of the virus whether by design or accident. No doubt about it.