After the US Energy Department became the latest member of the American intelligence community to say it believes Covid-19 virus leaked out of a Chinese laboratory, questions over the origins of coronavirus have escalated.
China and the United States seem headed for another showdown on this issue after the former rubbished such suggestions, but soon after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), another US agency that believes the pandemic was made-made and not natural, came out in public and said so.
One of the original whistle-blowers in this matter, Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan, has always maintained the virus is not only man-made, it was also leaked deliberately.
“It was not accidental to begin with. I was working in a Biosafety-3 lab in Hong Kong University with coronaviruses. It is a strict environment. Protocol and surveillance systems, even in the Wuhan Lab, don’t make it possible for such a leak to happen by accident,” she said, speaking exclusively to CNN-News18 as her “lab” theory continues to get more support.
“Based on other evidence and my sources, I believe this was intentionally leaked out of the lab for a certain purpose. This was done by CCP and the Chinese military. The outbreak in Wuhan somehow became uncontrollable, but China intentionally spread it all over the world,” she added.
‘UNRESTRICTED BIOWEAPON’
She maintains the virus was developed as an “unrestricted bioweapon”.
“According to the People’s Liberation Army’s text book written by their General of bio-weapons, if you want the best weapon, if you want to optimize it, the best way is to do the trial in the same environment as your enemy’s. That means the human’s living area,” she says, when asked why China would purposefully release a virus.
“Also, at the same time, we know that the Chinese military had conducted many exercises in September 2019 to handle novel coronavirus but what their ultimate reason is only the CCP can answer.”
‘DIDN’T ALERT THE WORLD’
Even more serious is her allegation that the Chinese authorities didn’t alert the world when they could have, a charge China has faced from other quarters too.
“I believe there were enough opportunities for China, even when it went out of hand in Wuhan, to stop the transmission. Instead they did nothing, they shut up the scientists and doctors, and spread it all over the world. Millions of people have died because of the virus and related consequences. Xi Jinping and his regime, those involved in the development and spread of misinformation on the pandemic deserve to face a trial.”
The evidence to prove this is hard to come by even as the American and global intelligence community remains divided over the origins. There are as many reports that suggest a natural animal-to-human jump as do a lab leak.
But Dr Yan is optimistic. “I wouldn’t say it’s too late to prove China’s guilt because we are working on research on Covid origins. But if the US energy department has some new evidence, we should have the opportunity to examine it because China is also pushing a lot of fake evidence.”
