THE truth Covid’s origins could bring national shame to China and topple the country’s Communist regime, a leading expert on the country has said.
Suspicion is growing that the deadly virus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, where research was being carried out into coronaviruses in bats.
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What was initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory has gained traction to the extent that President Joe Biden has ordered US spies to investigate.
British intelligence has also reportedly recently assessed the theory and upgraded its likeliness from “remote” to “feasible”.
China’s refusal to allow a full investigation and increasingly shrill denials have fuelled suspicion that it is seeking to cover up culpability.
According to China specialist Jasper Becker, if China did own up then the consequences would be enormous for the regime and President Xi Jinping.
“The national shame might spell the end of the Chinese Communist Party’s 70-year rule,” he wrote in the Mail on Sunday.
“It would start a political earthquake which would begin in China and upend the world order.”
But he added of China did admit liability then as well as the humiliation, it would on the hook for huge compensation.
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“The truth is that Beijing is never likely to accept responsibility for creating a new virus, allowing it to escape and unleashing a global pandemic that has so far killed more than 3.5 million people,” he said.
Becker also took a swipe at scientists who have backed China’s claims that the virus was most likely transmitted from animals and sought to dismiss the lab leak theory.
“Part of the opposition to the lab theory rested on antipathy to Donald Trump and his administration’s campaign against China,” wrote Becker,
“Given a choice between supporting Trump or the Chinese Communist Party, most scientists openly sided with the Chinese.”
In his article he also highlights how China’s experiments on monkeys which are born with mutated genes add to the suspicion about the origins of Covid.
China has a history of lab leaks in which deadly viruses have escaped and critics have highlighted what they allege is a gung-ho approach to safety.
Becker says that scientists in Wuhan – where the disease was first reported – have created more than 1,000 genetically-engineered animals before anyone had heard the name Covid-19.
At these sinister facilities, monkeys and rabbits are injected with gene-altered viruses – with some being similar to SARS-CoV-2.
“The fact is that China has a reputation for recklessly encouraging, or at least tolerating, all kinds of experiments that are not permitted elsewhere in the world.”
He claims Chinese scientists have been taking “daring” and “unethical” risks with their lab experiments.
