当美国情报机构继续调查COVID-19病毒传播的源头时，武汉病毒学研究所副所长周六站出来为中国政府和他的实验室辩护，称冠状病毒源于武汉。
中国科学院武汉分院院长袁志明说，打破了实验室的沉默此前特朗普政府消息人士上周表示，中国和世界卫生组织(世卫组织)正在调查一起潜在的冠状病毒掩盖事件。中国外交部周四对记者表示，世卫组织“没有发现任何证据”武汉实验室开始爆发疫情，袁抨击故意误用或制造的指控是“恶意的”和“不可能的”
美国参谋长联席会议周二表示，美国情报显示，冠状病毒最有可能自然传播，而不是在中国实验室制造，中国实验室与包括美国和法国在内的外国政府资金有联系。中国政府几乎没有对公开披露的冠状病毒病例和死亡统计数据的真实性提供信心，尤其是在有报道称政府让医生闭嘴之后，受到错误的指责美国军方在2019年的最初回应中失败了。
为了驳斥类似的指控，袁出现在中国国家电视台，他说美国的政客和“阴谋论”是错误的“连接点”，因为病毒学研究所和亚洲最先进的实验室都在武汉。
袁说:“美国加尔维斯顿国家实验室的主任明确表示，我们的实验室与欧洲和美国的实验室管理得一样好。”。“我认为人们建立这种联系是可以理解的。但这是一个恶意的举动，目的是误导人们“认为病毒是从[我们的武汉]实验室逃出来的”。
“他们没有证据或逻辑来支持他们的指控。他们完全是根据自己的推测，”袁补充说。
作为华盛顿邮报有据报告的2018年的外交电报显示，美国大使馆官员担心中国武汉实验室糟糕的安全程序(该实验室正在测试蝙蝠的冠状病毒株)可能导致未来爆发疫情。美联社报道，根据新闻通讯社获得的内部记录，在当局知道疫情爆发和正式宣布疫情之间的关键六天里，有3000多人感染了COVID-19。
参谋长联席会议主席马克·米莉将军最近说在五角大楼的一次新闻发布会上:“对你来说，我们对此非常感兴趣并不奇怪，我们有很多情报人员对此进行了认真的研究。我只想说，在这一点上，这是不确定的。尽管证据的重要性似乎表明“自然”但是我们不确定。"
上周三，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)表示，美国正试图确定冠状病毒是否源自武汉实验室，然后于2019年12月在中国蔓延。国务卿迈克·庞贝要求北京“需要澄清”冠状病毒的来源。一名美国情报部门官员与新闻周刊星期五说，美国政府机构对COVID-19的起源“没有就任何一个理论达成一致”。
周六，武汉病毒学家袁在一家中国国家电视网上表示，生物安全实验室经过了与西方实验室同等的严格测试，并驳斥了病毒传播的猜测。袁说，美国政客和“阴谋论”错误地“连接了点”，因为病毒学研究所和亚洲最先进的实验室都在武汉。
袁说:“美国加尔维斯顿国家实验室的主任明确表示，我们的实验室与欧洲和美国的实验室管理得一样好。”。“我认为人们建立这种联系是可以理解的。但这是一个恶意的举动，目的是误导人们“认为病毒是从[我们的武汉]实验室逃出来的”。
“他们没有证据或逻辑来支持他们的指控。他们完全是根据自己的推测，”袁补充说。
福克斯新闻援引特朗普政府内部几个匿名消息人士的话说，零号病人被认为在武汉实验室工作，并从一只蝙蝠身上感染了病毒。报道援引一位美国消息人士的话说，世界卫生组织和中国共产党政府之间的合作可能是“有史以来最昂贵的政府”——这是他们的外交部周四断然否认的。
特朗普本周宣布，他正在考虑停止美国对世界卫生组织的资助，以此作为对不当行为的调查，然后指责该国际组织严重错误处理和掩盖“冠状病毒的起源。袁周六表示，武汉实验室——或者说整个人类——没有能力“或者说没有制造这种病毒的技术”。“武汉实验室副主任说，他希望全球的科学家能够与中国的研究人员合作，找到病原体的真实轨迹。
“我从事实验室生物安全和科研项目管理多年，我知道这是不可能的，”袁继续说道。“但我也相信，只要疫情持续，这种猜测和不和谐就不会消失。世界各地的科学家正联手在学术期刊上发表论文。我希望这些阴谋论不会损害科学家们的合作，也不会影响他们对抗流行病的斗争。”
当美国情报机构继续调查COVID-19病毒传播的源头时，武汉病毒学研究所副所长周六出面为中国政府及其实验室辩护，称冠状病毒源自武汉。
AS U.S. INVESTIGATES WUHAN LAB LEAK THEORY, SENIOR CHINA RESEARCHER SAYS ALLEGATIONS ARE 'MALICIOUS, IMPOSSIBLE'
As United States intelligence agencies continue their investigation into the source of the COVID-19 spread, the vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology spoke out Saturday to defend the Chinese government and his laboratory from allegations that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan.
Yuan Zhiming, who is also the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan Branch, broke the lab's silence after Trump administration sources last week said China and the World Health Organization (WHO) were being investigated for a potential coronavirus cover-up. China's foreign ministry on Thursday told reporters the WHO found "no evidence" the outbreak started at the Wuhan laboratory, and Yuan blasted allegations of intentional misuse or creation as "malicious" and "impossible."
The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday that American intelligence indicates the coronavirus most likely spread naturally versus it being manufactured in the Chinese laboratory, which has ties to foreign government money including the U.S. and France. The Chinese government has done little to provide confidence in the veracity of its publicly revealed coronavirus case and death statistics, particularly after reports they silenced doctors, falsely blamed the U.S. military and botched their initial 2019 response.
Hoping to dismiss similar allegations, Yuan appeared on a Chinese state television network and said that U.S. politicians and "conspiracy theories" are mistakenly "connecting the dots," because the Institute of Virology and the P4 laboratory, one of Asia's most advanced, are both in the city of Wuhan.
"The director of the Galveston National Laboratory in the United States made it clear that our laboratory is just as well managed as labs in Europe and the U.S.," Yuan said. "I think it is understandable for people to make that association. But it is a malicious move to purposefully mislead the people" to think that the virus escaped from [our Wuhan] labs.
"They have no evidence or logic to support their accusations. They are basing it completely on their own speculations," Yuan added.
As the Washington Post had reported, diplomatic cables from 2018 revealed U.S. embassy officials were concerned that poor safety procedures at China's Wuhan lab--which was testing coronavirus strains in bats--could potentially lead to outbreaks in the future. The Associated Press reported that more than 3,000 people were infected with COVID-19 during the crucial six days between when authorities knew about the outbreak and their official announcement, based on internal records obtained by the news wire.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, recently said at a news conference at the Pentagon: "It should be no surprise to you that we've taken a keen interest in that, and we've had a lot of intelligence take a hard look at that. And I would just say, at this point, it's inconclusive. Although the weight of evidence seems to indicate 'natural.' But we don't know for certain."
Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from the Wuhan lab before spreading throughout China in December 2019. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded that Beijing "needs to come clean" on the coronavirus source. A U.S. intelligence community official who spoke to Newsweek Friday said the U.S. government agencies have "not collectively agreed on any one theory" about COVID-19's origin.
Hoping to dismiss such allegations Saturday, Yuan, the Wuhan branch virologist, appeared on a Chinese state television network saying the biosafety lab undergoes rigorous testing on par with Western labs as he dismissed virus spread speculation. Yuan said that U.S. politicians and "conspiracy theories" are mistakenly "connecting the dots" because the Institute of Virology and the P4 laboratory, one of Asia's most advanced, are both in the city of Wuhan.
"The director of the Galveston National Laboratory in the United States made it clear that our laboratory is just as well managed as labs in Europe and the U.S.," Yuan said. "I think it is understandable for people to make that association. But it is a malicious move to purposefully mislead the people" to think that the virus escaped from [our Wuhan] labs.
"They have no evidence or logic to support their accusations. They are basing it completely on their own speculations," Yuan added.
Fox News quoted several anonymous sources last week within the Trump administration who said patient zero is thought to have worked at the Wuhan lab and contracted the virus from a bat. The report cited one U.S. source who said cooperation between the WHO and the communist Chinese government may be "the costliest government of all time" -- something their foreign ministry denied flatly Thursday.
Trump announced this week he is considering halting U.S. funding to the WHO as an investigation into wrongdoing proceeds, before accusing the international organization of "severely mismanaging and covering up" the coronavirus origin. Yuan said Saturday that the Wuhan lab -- or humans as a whole -- don't have the capability "or have the know-how to create such a virus." The Wuhan lab vice director said he is hopeful that scientists around the globe can work with Chinese researchers to find the pathogen's true trajectory.
"I have been in managing laboratory biosafety and scientific research projects for years, I know it is impossible," Yuan continued. "But I also believe that so long as the pandemic continues, this kind of speculations and disharmony will not fade away. Scientists around the world are joining forces to publish in academic journals. I hope these conspiracy theories will not harm the cooperation of scientists and affect their fight against the pandemic."
As United States intelligence agencies continue their investigation into the source of the COVID-19 spread, the vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology came forth Saturday to defend the Chinese government and his laboratory from allegations the coronavirus originated in Wuhan.
