[Global Issue+] COVID-19 'China Origin Theory' Resurfaces... Growing Suspicions of Artificial Manipulation in China

Host Not Found Over a Year After Pandemic... Possibility of Artificial Manipulation
China's 2013 History of Creating Artificial Flu Virus... Suspicions Grow

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] As the so-called "China origin theory," which suggests that COVID-19 was artificially manufactured and leaked from a research facility in China rather than occurring naturally, resurges, international calls for thorough investigations are pouring in. Even the scientific community, which had taken a cautious stance during the Trump administration last year, has begun to strongly raise suspicions about the China origin theory.

The reason the scientific community is raising doubts is that the coronavirus itself, which is the root of COVID-19, already has dozens of known variants, and given that it has been over a year since the pandemic began?with vaccines developed and numerous studies conducted?it is considered strange that the exact host has still not been identified.

Coronaviruses were discovered in the 1930s, and dozens of variants have already been reported. Other variants typically had their hosts accurately identified about a year after their emergence, so unless the virus was artificially engineered, it is argued that it should not be impossible to find the host by now.

Moreover, suspicions that the Chinese government was aware of the COVID-19 issue before the pandemic but concealed it have also surfaced, further strengthening the China origin theory.

"Wuhan COVID-19 Deaths Already Occurred in September" Suspicion Raised

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

On the 29th (local time), the British Daily Mail cited China's medical journal Health Times, reporting that a patient suspected of dying from symptoms similar to COVID-19 was found in Wuhan on September 29, more than two months before the Chinese government first reported COVID-19 to the World Health Organization (WHO) on December 8, 2019.

David Asher, former senior advisor at the U.S. State Department who led the COVID-19 origin investigation task force during the Trump administration, also stated in an interview with the Daily Mail that "three researchers at the Wuhan Virus Research Institute suffered respiratory illnesses in November 2019, and the wife of one scientist is reported to have died."

This information was also reported by the U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing U.S. intelligence reports. The focus is centered on the "Wuhan Virus Research Institute," located in the major city of Wuhan.

China Already Created Synthetic Influenza Virus

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The Wuhan Virus Research Institute, at the center of the China origin theory controversy, is a Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, the highest level, which exists in only 21 countries worldwide. These BSL-4 labs are known for researching highly lethal viruses such as Ebola and smallpox.

However, the Wuhan Virus Research Institute has been controversial since its establishment. According to the BBC, after the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003, the Chinese government prepared to establish the Wuhan Virus Research Institute in collaboration with France's Pasteur Institute under the pretext of preventing the re-emergence of such viruses. However, in May 2013, the collaboration broke down when Chinese researchers artificially synthesized a novel influenza virus.

At that time, a research team from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Gansu Agricultural University announced in the American scientific journal Science that they had created a new influenza virus variant transmissible through respiratory droplets by mixing the genes of the H5N1 virus and the H1N1 virus. This led French intelligence authorities to force the Pasteur Institute to halt the joint project with China. Since then, the international community has begun accusing China of developing biological weapons.

The Chinese government denied these allegations, claiming it is a party to the Biological Weapons Convention and has never developed biological weapons. However, U.S. intelligence agencies estimate that China has been developing large quantities of biological weapons since the 1980s.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.