China News Service, July 30. According to news from the website of the Chinese Embassy in Italy on the 29th, Chinese Ambassador to Italy Li Junhua published a signed article "Political manipulation must be excluded from the source of the virus" in the Italian newspaper Diplomatic.
The content of the article is as follows:
Image source: Screenshot of the website of the Chinese Embassy in Italy.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic has ravaged the world for more than a year, causing great trauma to all countries.
Cooperation in the fight against the epidemic is a common demand of all parties.
However, there have been many controversies and divergent opinions surrounding the issue of traceability.
I would like to talk about some of my views.
Cooperative traceability is the responsibility of all parties.
The epidemic is the enemy of mankind, and China immediately notified WHO and relevant countries of information and shared prevention and control experience.
China took the lead in conducting traceability cooperation with the World Health Organization, and invited international expert groups to China twice to conduct traceability research. They visited Wuhan South China Seafood Market and Wuhan Virus Research Institute to display the original data that need special attention one by one.
Italian scientific research institutions have also cooperated and shared information with the WHO on virus traceability.
There is no doubt that all countries should undertake the obligation to promote the traceability of the virus, and the traceability should be carried out on a global scale.
All countries that have found early cases should refer to China's practice and invite the WHO team to conduct joint field inspections, or learn from Italy to share data and information, and cooperate to complete traceability tasks.
All parties should find the animal source of the virus and the route of transmission to humans on a global scale in accordance with the requirements of Resolution 73.1 of the World Health Assembly.
Adhere to the guidance of member states, and advance relevant work on the basis of full consultation and agreement between WHO and member states.
Scientific traceability is the foundation of success.
Virus tracing is a major scientific subject, and scientific conclusions must be drawn based on facts and through rigorous analysis.
Returning science to science is the prerequisite for tracing the source, which is a universally agreed basic common sense.
However, individual countries and a few people are paranoid about the "laboratory leak theory" and cannot provide any basis that can withstand scrutiny, but they use all means to slander China and even abuse experts and teams who make objective statements.
The joint report issued by the WHO clearly believes that the new coronavirus is "extremely unlikely" to leak through the laboratory.
Not long ago, the authoritative medical journal "The Lancet" once again published a joint statement by 24 medical experts criticizing the so-called "laboratory leak theory" and emphasizing that "new coronaviruses evolved in nature."
An authoritative expert on infectious diseases in Milan stated in the Social Affairs Committee of the Italian House of Representatives that the new crown virus is "an unknown virus with no signs of genetic engineering inside."
It is particularly worth emphasizing that there is no evidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology has ever experienced pathogen leakage or personnel infection accidents. Up to now, the institute still maintains a record of "zero infection" of the new coronavirus.
Recently, 60 countries wrote to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, once again calling for scientific traceability and opposition to political manipulation.
Ignoring the basic facts is beyond the scope of science. Not only does it help to clarify the source of the disease, but it also muddies the water and complicates the problem.
Preventing manipulation is the core premise.
Looking back at history, there is often no inevitable connection between the country where the case was first reported and the source of the virus. For example, the Spanish flu that broke out during World War I actually started in the United States, not Spain.
Many research reports, including the United States, show that the epidemic of new coronary pneumonia is increasingly pointing to multiple sources and multiple outbreaks.
This fully shows that virus traceability is always a serious and complicated scientific problem, and it must rely on a team of experts to investigate and research on a global scale to find out the truth.
If the intelligence agency or the national parliament leads the traceability research, can the results have a scientific basis?
Can its conclusions be scientifically fair?
There is nothing to blame for the crime.
The political manipulation of the virus is based on preconceived "presumption of guilt". The sole purpose of this move is to obstruct global cooperation and scientifically trace the source.
This is not only an extreme disrespect for life and science, but also a blame for their inability to fight the epidemic. At the same time, as the American think tank said, it is also a consistent method of suppressing and discrediting China.
The purpose of promoting virus traceability is to enhance scientific understanding, so as to more effectively prevent and respond to major epidemics, and promote the realization of a human health community.
This work concerns every country, every region, and the common well-being and health of mankind.
While dealing with the new crown virus, we must be alert to the political virus.
Only by strengthening unity and cooperation, believing in scientific truth, and abandoning political interference, can we achieve the expected results.