Foreign news

China slams U.S. accusations it obstructed international investigation into COVID-19 origins

Published

4 years ago

August 29, 2021

China is firmly opposed to the report released by the U.S. intelligence community on COVID-19 origins tracing that accused China of “obstructing international investigations” and “refusing to share information and blaming other countries,” the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement on Saturday.

U.S. President Joe Biden had given the intelligence community 90 days to investigate the origins of COVID-19. The report was released to the public on Friday through an inconclusive, unclassified summary.

A fabrication with no credibility

The report is a fabrication led by the U.S. intelligence community and has no scientific basis or credibility at all, the statement said, adding that tracing the COVID-19 virus is a complex scientific matter that should only be done by scientists, not intelligence experts.

The statement recalled U.S. intelligence’s “masterpieces” in history including displaying a test tube of laundry powder cited as evidence for Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and the staged “White Helmets” video cited as evidence for a chemical weapon attack in Syria.

The embassy pointed out that the U.S. is now using its old trick again while ignoring the Report by the WHO-China joint mission and choosing to have its intelligence community put together a report instead. “How can this possibly be science-based and reliable origin-tracing?”

An excuse for smearing China

The assertion of a lack of transparency on the part of China is only an excuse for a U.S. politicizing and stigmatizing campaign, the statement read.

It reiterated that China has taken an open, transparent and responsible attitude since the outbreak of COVID-19, adding that it has released information, shared the genome sequencing of the virus, and carried out international cooperation to fight the disease, all done at the earliest possible time.

In terms of COVID-19 origins tracing, the Chinese embassy stressed, China has followed a science-based, professional, serious and responsible approach and the openness and transparency China has displayed has won full recognition from international experts.

“We are the first to cooperate with the WHO on global origin-tracing, and we have invited WHO experts to conduct the investigations twice in China. We were completely open, transparent and cooperative when the experts were in China. They visited every site on their list, met every individual they asked for, and were provided with all the data they wanted.”

The statement also noted the formulation of the Report of the WHO-China joint mission followed WHO procedures and adopted a scientific approach that is authoritative and science-based.

Wrong path of political manipulation

The report by the U.S. intelligence community shows that the U.S. is bent on going down the wrong path of political manipulation, the embassy said.

Stressing the U.S. has registered the world’s most COVID-19 infections and deaths, the statement said the report is based on a presumption of guilt on the part of China, and it is only for scapegoating the country.

“Such a practice will only disturb and sabotage international cooperation on origin-tracing and on fighting the pandemic, and has been widely opposed by the international community,” the embassy warned.

It added over 300 political parties, social organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat, firmly opposing the politicizing the origins tracing.

U.S. shying away from origins tracing

The embassy accused the U.S. of shying away from tracing the origins. “If the U.S. side is ‘transparent and responsible’, it should make public and examine the data of its early cases.”

The statement said in at least five American states, there had been infections before the first confirmed case in the U.S. was announced.

“The timeline of the outbreak in the United States has been revised to earlier dates several times,” the statement read and cited the latest coverage from American media, saying the first COVID-19 death in the U.S. was in early January 2020, weeks earlier than previously announced by the authorities, which was early February.

The embassy reiterated that the WHO-China joint study reached the clear conclusion that introduction through a lab accident in Wuhan is “extremely unlikely.”

“If the U.S. insists on the lab leak theory, isn’t it necessary for the U.S. side to invite WHO experts to Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina (UNC) for investigation?”

The embassy noted a disease with symptoms similar to COVID-19 broke out in the U.S after Fort Detrick’s shutdown in 2019 because of serious safety incidents, adding that the team of Professor Ralph Baric at the UNC possesses extremely mature capability in synthesizing and modifying coronavirus.

The embassy urged the U.S. to find out what happened in its own labs first rather than “keeping slinging mud at others.”

The statement said any Phase II origins study must be a comprehensive extension of Phase I and conducted in multiple places and countries to find out the truth.

The Chinese embassy also told the U.S. side that “continuing such an effort will also be in vain, because its subject is simply non-existent and anti-science.”

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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