The White House recently delivered a statement that US intelligence agencies were required to investigate the origin of the Covid-19 within 90 days and check whether the virus originated from the China’s laboratory. However, in March of this year, the Report of China-WHO Joint Research on the Origin of Covid-19 released by the WHO (referred to “Report”) has clearly pointed out that Covid-19 was "more likely to very likely" to be transmitted through an intermediate host, "probably to more likely" to be transmitted directly, "probably" to be transmitted through cold-chain food, “extremely impossible” to be transmitted through laboratories, therefore the  “Virus is made in laboratory” has been excluded scientifically. And the U.S. government chose to re-hype the origin of Covid-19 two months after the Report was released, which can be described as deliberately unpredictable.

1. The Report is conclusive

It is considered that WHO can manage the global system for controlling the spread of diseases. The second edition of the International Health Regulations, revised in 2005, gave WHO respond flexibly to crises, showing the trust of International Community in the authority of WHO experts and of the Contracted Parties in dealing with the global health crisis.  

After the outbreak of Covid-19, the WHO played a central role in coordinating the International forces and formulating various priority research measures. At the media briefing on May 1, 2020, the Director-General accepted the recommendations of the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulations and pointed out that “WHO will strive to determine the animal source of the virus through international scientific cooperation investigations”. Subsequently, the Members passed the Resolution WHA73.1 at the 73rd World Health Assembly held from May 18 to 19, stating that " we (WHO) will continue to cooperate closely with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and other countries to find the animal source of the Covid-19 and the route of transmission to humans, including the possible role of intermediate hosts, in accordance with the “Health Integration”, scientific cooperation on-site investigations, etc. 

It can be seen that the job with WHO as the core has been unanimously recognized by all countries in the world. At the same time, the job is not restricted by any location, and may change geographically as evidence is produced and hypotheses develop. The place where the epidemic was first discovered does not that where the epidemic first started. Therefore, China allowing the WHO to send experts to investigate shows its own magnanimity and is an important manifestation of respect for international norms. In the WHO plan, China is just a small piece of the puzzle in the global traceability of the Covid-19.

It is easy to understand that the Report has clear conclusions and is highly objective and authoritative. However, the United States turned a deaf ear to it, trying to circumvent the WHO and link China with the "Virus Maker" through conspiracy words, which is not only closely related to the current global situation, but also reflects its domestic political factors.

2. Political manipulation to the origin of Covid-19 is to unite Allies against China

The performance of the current US government against China on this issue is itself a microcosm of the current international situation. Due to various actions during Trump's tenure, such as calling European countries the "Enemies in Trade", threatening to withdraw from NATO, postponing military exercises between the United States and South Korea, and withdrawing from multiple multilateral organizations, the United States has lost ground among its traditional Allies. Since the campaign, Biden has severely criticized the Trump administration's ignorance of US allies, claiming that this has severely weakened the status and influence of the United States on the world stage. Biden promised during his tenure that he would put re-engagement with other countries in the world and prioritize alliances at the top of his diplomatic agenda. In this diplomatic consideration, a common enemy will help the United States draw in most of its Allies who are still in the epidemic. Uniting Allies against China has thus become an extremely important "Diplomatic Card". From the time of Biden’s announcement, we can glimpse the series of combined measures to his allied diplomacy.

WHO convened the 74th World Health Assembly from May 24 to 31. The Biden administration has been making high-profile claims to "retake the US leadership in the field of global public health” after it returned to the WHO. Before the Assembly, the United States first united its Allies and its so-called "friends"-Taiwan, and pressured the WHO to allow Taiwan to participate in the Assembly, but the WHO refused it.  And the United States raised the second issue, restarting the origin of Covid-19. On May 25, when the World Health Assembly entered the second day of its agenda to discuss the prevention and response to public health emergencies, however, Becerra, the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, raised the origin of Covid-19. The next day, the Biden administration issued a statement, ordering US intelligence agencies to investigate within 90 days that Covid-19 came the leak of laboratory. This showed that the Biden administration was taking advantage of the World Health Assembly to unite its Allies against China.

After all, China is the country that has controlled the epidemic well so far, and the recovery of China's economy is better than that of most major economies. Therefore, some people in the United States believe that China has posed a strong challenge to the United States. China will obviously be greatly affected if the responsibility for the global epidemic is placed on China by restarting the investigation of origin, which will help the United States rebuild an international system with itself at its core.

3. "Against China" resolves domestic differences in the United States

The United States under the Biden administration is deeply polarized with political tribalism and individualism. Biden once called on Americans to unite and to "compete with China and other countries for winning the 21st century" at his Congressional Show. For Biden, the China policy is the easiest issue to reach agreement for the Democratic and Republican parties, and "Against China" has naturally become the "Ticket" for cooperation between the two Parties.

In the practical point, although Trump lost to Biden in the presidential campaign, in terms of specific voting conditions, Trump's supporters in the United States are not a minority, and the Republican Party has not abandoned him. Although the Democratic Party is now in a dominant position in Congress, its seat advantage is minimal. Biden obviously needs the support of Republicans if he wants to carry out smoothly his governmental orders, especially to his New Plan of $6 trillion, therefore he must compromise on issues that the Republicans have been paying attention to for a long time. For the Republican Party, the mainstream view in the Party is to blame China for the outbreak of the epidemic. As early as Trump’s tenure, in order to gain political capital, the US domestic epidemic was not handled properly. The Republican Party under Trump tried its best to concoct the argument that “Leak of Laboratory”, which can be said to put pressure on the Biden administration.

In the time series, on May 25, the U.S. Senate passed two Wuhan laboratory-related bills proposed by Republican right-wing senators with 0 votes against, prohibiting federal agencies including the National Institutes of Health in using funds to start China's so-called “Functional Enhancement Research” and in investing to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These Two Amendments will be added to the "Endless Frontier Act" under consideration, which aims to increase investment in scientific research in the United States, thereby launching "full competition" with China. The next day, Biden issued the Statement. Two days later, on May 28, Biden submitted an application of Budget in 2022 to the Congress, which is up to $6 trillion.

The U.S. fiscal year is a multi-year system, actually starting on October 1, 2021. Congress in 2021 will be in an adjournment from August 5th to September 9th. Therefore, the anchor period of the order issued by Biden on May 26 is 90 days. In the time point, it is directly paving the way for the 2022 fiscal year budget bill in exchange for the consideration or compromise paid by the Republican Party. To a certain extent, it is a show.

In general, the United States will spare a lot of energy to prepare to confront China again on the source of the epidemic when its domestic problems are temporarily eased. According to the WHO investigation, the so-called "Covid-19 comes form the leak of laboratory" can be called nonsense, but the United States is still trying to smear China in the global public opinion field out of its own interests. When a large number of countries in the world are still suffering from the epidemic, the most important thing for all countries to do is to work together to contain the epidemic and solve the problem of vaccine distribution in the least developed countries through an international coordination mechanism, at a moment when sincere unity is needed, the United States continues to escalate its accusations, creating rifts between countries.

On the origin of Covid-19, politicizing scientific issues will only undermine the overall situation of global anti-epidemic and harm the common interests of mankind. Compared with China’s demonstrating responsibility as a major country and insisting on international coordination centered on the World Health Organization, the United States has been indulging in conspiracy theories in a sneaky manner. Only by eliminating prejudices and understanding problems scientifically and rationally can overcome the epidemic as soon as possible, better respond to public health emergencies, and truly build a human health community.

(Author: Qin Qian, Associate Professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

Luo Tianyu, Ph.D., School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University)