Politicizing the origin-tracing issue damages US' credibility
Despite reports emerging from the US Energy Department with "low confidence" that the pandemic might have leaked from a Chinese laboratory, Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, said that China must be more honest with the origins of COVID-19 and urged Beijing to take a more active role in the World Health Organization.
As a matter of fact, China has always been open and transparent on the virus origin-tracing. It has twice invited WHO experts to conduct joint origin study since the pandemic broke out, and has shared more data and research findings than any other country.
In March 2021, the WHO and China issued a joint report on origin-tracing after the experts worked together for about a month in Wuhan, Hubei province, from January to February of that year, concluding that it was "extremely unlikely" that the coronavirus leaked from the lab.
During the past three years, some US politicians have consistently been politicizing, weaponizing and instrumentalizing the issue. For them, the claim that the virus leaked from the Wuhan lab with intent to infect the world has become a convenient weapon to wield against and smear China. They are continuing to fabricate myths without any supporting evidence, which could eventually damage their own reputation.
Unsurprisingly, it's not the first time that the ambassador has made such unfounded accusations against China. In December, he criticized the human rights conditions in China, particularly in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, an old ploy used repeatedly by US politicians to paint China as evil in a narrative that is politically motivated.
As an US ambassador to China, Burns should have done more to help improve China-US relations and promote mutual understanding between the two peoples. Instead, he hasn't lived up to the expectations, as he has gone too far in doing what appears to be like rubbing salt into a wound of the already fraught relationship.
In just a few days after the US military shot down a Chinese civilian airship that had drifted into US airspace, the US intelligence officials claimed that China was considering providing Russia with drones and ammunition for use in in Ukraine but showed no evidence. So, instead of lessening tensions and improving the relationship in any way, he is just adding to the friction.
"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". Fortunately, the world has had enough of the US lies and fabrications. Many countries, especially the developing nations, have seen through their tricks aimed at creating division and stoking confrontations around the world.
It's time for the US to wake up to the reality that a multipolar world is taking place where hegemony stands nowhere. It's also time for the US to stop the baseless accusation and abandon the zero-sum Cold War mentality so they can then work with China to explore the right way to get along with each other. By politicizing the origin-tracing issue, the US will not succeed in discrediting China. Instead, it will only hurt its own credibility.
WHO releases report on COVID-19 origin-tracing joint study with China
