High time for US to check its labs

The SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 173 million people and claimed over 3.72 million lives worldwide. Indeed, it is one of the viruses that have deeply changed human society.

Therefore, there has been a global call for searching the origin of this novel coronavirus, so measures can be taken to prevent similar global public health emergencies. China has not only voted at the United Nations and the World Health Assembly, the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organization, for such a study, but also conducted a joint study with WHO team in January in Wuhan, where the virus was first reported.

China’s openness and cooperation has been appreciated by the WHO.

There have also been calls for further “investigation” into the measures China took during the early stage to contain the spread of the virus. US President Joe Biden ordered an intensive 90-day probe to reinvestigate the possibility of a lab leak origin in the pandemic. It seems the US administration has decided to use its intelligence and research departments to ascertain if China made a bungle of its initial response to the pandemic.

Interestingly, some US media outlets have reported that Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump administration decided to not push too hard. According to those reports, the US administration used to conduct gain-of-function research, and for fear of China striking back if the US pushed it too hard, the Trump administration had asked US State Department officials to not raise a hue and cry over the origin of the novel coronavirus in China.

China supports impartial and unbiased scientific research to trace the origin of the virus. And since cases suspected of COVID-19 symptoms were reported in several places around the world from late 2019, it would be scientifically and politically fair to simultaneously conduct research in all those places to determine the origin of the virus. As in the past, China is ready to cooperate with the WHO in such research. But it cannot be forced to agree to any investigation based on the preconceived notion that the virus originated in the country.

China has a fundamental question. While the United States suspects China, too, conducted gain-of-function research which could be related to the outbreak of the virus, why doesn’t it open its gain-of-function research program to a probe by a ream of global experts? Or, why doesn’t the Biden administration invite a WHO research team to trace the origin of the virus in the US?

This is not to suggest the virus originated in the US. But many do suspect it did.

There is more than enough reason to demand that transparent research be carried out to study the virus’s early development in the US. Such a demand should not be construed as China’s retaliation, for it is a global expectation.

For a year, China has been of the view that a transparent scientific research on a global level should be launched in the post-pandemic period to trace the origin of the virus. But we are still far from the post-pandemic period, as the virus is still raging in some countries and regions.

China was the first country to complete the genome sequencing of the virus and work in partnership with the WHO. While some may have “reasons” to ask China to be more open, it is equally important to ask other major stakeholders to open their labs and institutions to investigation to determine the origin of the virus.

All countries are equal. This fact becomes more important when humankind faces an unprecedented challenge, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We are equally vulnerable in the face of the pandemic and equally important for containing it and preventing similar health emergencies. Hence, openness and impartiality are the basic requirements for any research aimed at tracing the origin of the virus.

It’s time for the US to conduct research on its soil and give an answer to the international community.

The author is a professor at and former executive dean of the Institute of International Studies Fudan University.

The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily.