US attempt to politicize tracing of COVID-19 origins doomed to fail

The United States is playing its old trick again by releasing a so-called summary of the intelligence community assessment on COVID-19 origins, under the delusion that it can hamper China by politicizing COVID-19 origin-tracing.

The summary, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States last Friday, does not rule out either natural exposure or laboratory accident, and blatantly claims that China "continues to hinder the global investigation, resist sharing information and blame other countries."

Obviously, the "report" concocted by the US intelligence community is not scientifically credible. As a matter of science, the origin-tracing should and can only be left to scientists, not intelligence experts.

The assertion of lack of transparency on the part of China is only an excuse for the US politicizing and stigmatizing campaign. China has taken an open, transparent and responsible attitude since COVID-19 cases were reported in the city of Wuhan.

As the first to cooperate with the World Health Organization (WHO) on global origin-tracing, China has invited WHO experts to conduct the investigations twice in the country. The openness and transparency China has displayed have won full recognition from international experts.

The joint study report of the scientists of the WHO and China, which was released earlier this year after two joint study missions in the country, has reached the conclusion that introduction through a lab accident in Wuhan is "extremely unlikely." The United States, however, has chosen to ignore this finding.

The US intelligence community's "report" is based on a presumption of guilt on the part of China, seeking to scapegoat China for the US side's failure to effectively protect its citizens from the virus.

With its rich medical resources, the United States has, however, registered the most infections and death cases from COVID-19 across the globe.

The US side has been shying away from tracing the virus origins at home and closing the door on any such possibility. If the US side insists on the lab leak theory, it should invite WHO experts to investigate military bio-lab Fort Detrick.

If the US side is "transparent and responsible," it should make public the data of its early cases and examine it to find out what happened on its turf first, instead of continually slinging mud at others.

China stands a clear-cut position on global origin-tracing: This is a matter of science. And any attempt to pressure China by politicizing COVID-19 origin-tracing is doomed to fail.