Is London silent on lab leak of COVID19 so as not to upset China?

London: British intelligence officers came under pressure on Wednesday to divulge information regarding Covid-19’s origins and end the “conspiracy of silence” in the UK. It came after FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that the agency thought the worldwide pandemic ‘most likely’ started in a government aided laboratory in China. The American agency’s analysis of how the virus emerged was finally verified in the public eye for the first time, on Wednesday. Is UK scared of upsetting China? Following the FBI statement, Conservative MP Bob Seely raised concern regarding British intelligence’s absence of response on FBI’s claims. He asserted that there was a “conspiracy of silence” on the subject in Britain amid worries that the most recent proof is being disregarded to pacify Beijing. He claimed that the UK doesn’t want to upset Chinese government because the diplomatic ties are already tense due to the conflict in Ukraine. Seely believes that the FBI’s intervention is very important and is shocked to see how UK haven’t tried to find out the truth because “we are so afraid of offending a communist regime”. “In UK, it appears that we have little concern for Covid’s genesis. There appears to be a plan to keep quiet about the situation. One of the most serious incidents to occur in the past ten years, yet there seems to be zero desire in finding the truth,” he said. “Now that the FBI director has stated what their analysis is, it’s an excellent idea,” he continued. Why can’t we accomplish the same thing?” he asked. “It is important that there is some transparency, whether it be someone from MI5 or MI6 or whether it be a minister, and I think it would be beneficial to set out some of the intelligence on what they feel happened,” he continued. “If bio-security in a developed nation like China is so lacking that a lab leak could result in this, what is to prevent it from occurring again?” Seely asked. Chairman of the foreign affairs committee and Tory MP Alicia Kearns argued that if definitive findings had been reached regarding the origins of the pandemic, they should be made public. She continued, “I recall many of us back in 2020 talking about the fact that we thought this was manmade and there may be an element of state involvement and we were treated with ridicule — it was made out we were something like conspiracy theorist”. “If we have the proof, the intelligence here to back up what the Americans are saying, we have a duty to make that clear what the origins of this virus was. We have a duty to be transparent,” she said. Apart from the Tory leaders, Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former leader of the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Regiment of the United Kingdom also demanded for a thorough, transparent investigation into the causes of Covid-19. FBI’s claim on origination of Coronavirus Although Wray said details of the FBI’s investigation were under wraps, he did mention that the work of the agency’s expert team concentrating on biological threats had suggested a lab leak. He said that the Chinese government, in his opinion, has been making every effort to obscure and impede the work being done by America and its international allies. “It’s bad for everyone that way”. A day prior to the FBI claim, the US envoy to China urged China to “be more honest” regarding Covid’s ancestry. While stating that it had reached this conclusion with “low confidence” and that it did not think Covid-19 was a component of a Chinese biological weapons programme, the US Energy Department came to a similar conclusion earlier this week. A growing number of experts believe the deadly strain started at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was studying coronaviruses, but the US intelligence community is still divided on the subject. Previous findings A 2021 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the US claimed that the original Covid-19 infection “was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus,”. The report also identified four unnamed agencies that made the same assessment. Beijing dismissed Mr. Wray’s allegations as slander yesterday. The conclusions they came to lack credibility, according to a spokesman for China’s foreign office. WHO investigation on COVID 19 The lab leak hypothesis was deemed to be “extremely unlikely” by a joint investigation by China and the World Health Organization in 2021. However, after the WHO investigation received harsh criticism, the organization’s director-general called for a new investigation, stating that “all theories remain open and require further study.” Rishi Sunak on COVID 19’s origination When asked for a reaction on the controversy, a spokesperson for the the UK PM Rishi Sunak refused to agree on the US government’s “formal conclusion” saying Covid started with a leak from a Chinese lab. “The UK endorses the WHO’s investigations into the Covid 19 outbreak” which he continued should involve fieldwork in China. “The WHO visited China. We believe there are still unanswered issues regarding the cause and spread of Covid-19, not the least of which is to ensure we are better equipped to deal with pandemics in the future,” he added. Read all the Latest News, Trending News,  Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.