WHO Photo: VCG
Chinese experts from the joint expert team of the WTO and China were not notified of next week’s release of the full report on the COVID-19 origin study before the release was announced by a WTO official, which ‘quite surprisingly’ ‘was, as such work must be done. based on direct communication between Chinese and foreign experts, a Chinese expert on the team told the Global Times exclusively on Saturday.
During communication with foreign experts, the Chinese expert noticed a “political pressure” on the international experts, and therefore the Chinese side is concerned that the final report may deviate from the previous consensus, the expert said.
“I was very surprised by this announcement,” the Chinese expert from the WTO-China Joint Expert Team, who preferred not to be named, told the Global Times.
The work on the report should be done on the basis of direct communication between Chinese and foreign experts, and yet Chinese experts have not received any relevant information, the expert said. Instead, a WHO official came to light with the release of the report.
Since the WHO’s foreign experts arrived in China in January to study the origins of COVID-19, Chinese and international experts have established good working and personal relationships, with both sides working closely together on positive results and a broad consensus. , said the Chinese expert.
Time constraints prevented them from completing the writing of a full report, but consensus was reached on the main results, conclusions and future work proposals for the joint study of the report collection, which was unveiled at the team’s joint press conference on 9 February . .
The Chinese expert said the two parties had agreed that experts from China and the WTO would continue to write the full text of the report based on the previous consensus, but a full draft report in English would only be available to China on March 17 send. The report is about 300 pages long and has no Chinese version, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian revealed on Friday.
Peter Ben Embarek (center) talks to Liang Wannian (left) and Marion Koopmans (right) after a press conference to conclude a visit by an international team of World Health Organization (WHO) experts in the city of Wuhan, Central China’s Hubei Province. Photo: AFP
In communication with foreign experts “we may feel that international experts are facing political pressure from some aspects,” the expert said. “So there seems to be a reason for the delayed report beyond scientific research.”
The Chinese side did not know “exactly who is putting pressure on the international experts,” he said. “It may come from different countries. We are concerned that the final report may deviate from the previous consensus.”
Such a deviation would be very disrespectful to the efforts of the joint team of experts as well as to the spirit of scientific efforts, the expert said.
It will also undermine global research on detecting virus claims, he said.
“Detecting virus claims is a matter of science, which politics should not and cannot interfere with,” the expert said. “Chinese and foreign scientists are disgusted by politicized acts.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said during a routine press conference on Friday that China immediately contacted relevant parties when WTO officials announced that the report on recognizing the origin of the virus next week would be released. will be made.
“To the best of my knowledge, on March 17, Chinese experts received an English version of the report from WTO experts, containing a total of about 300 pages,” Zhao said. “As we speak, there is no Chinese version available yet.”
WHO apparently worked on the translation, Zhao said. “Whether the report will be released next week depends on the discussions between Chinese and foreign experts,” he said.
Detecting the origin of viruses has never been a simple task and it has required lengthy joint efforts by scientists, Liang Wannian, team leader on the Chinese side of the WTO-China joint expert team, earlier in an exclusive interview with the Global Times said.
Leading Chinese scientist from the WTO joint team addresses key issues before the joint report is released Graph: Xu Zihe / GT
“At the beginning of this research, we established principles of ‘four cohesion’, which means that we plan together, undertake fieldwork together, compile the report and release publications together,” Liang said.
Liang had earlier predicted a possible delay before the release of the report, citing the lengthy content. “As scientists, we want to present a complete, accurate and scientific report at the maximum level, so this process will take some time,” he said.
Liang believes that some politicians and media ‘have insisted on politicizing the scientific issue of locating the sources of COVID-19, regardless of scientific facts, for their own personal gain, and the scientific findings and reports of our joint team , which has great respect for the work of our scientists. ‘