China releases white paper on Covid-19 origins, control and prevention

China releases white paper on Covid-19 origins, control and prevention outlining information on the global pandemic.

China’s State Council Information Office released a white paper titled “Covid-19 Prevention, Control and Origins Tracing: China’s Actions and Stance” on Wednesday.

The white paper includes a preface and conclusion, and is divided into three main sections: contributions to tracing the virus origins, China’s global role in combating the pandemic, and a critique of the United States’ pandemic response.

From the beginning of the outbreak, China has heavily invested in joint scientific efforts to trace the origins of Covid-19, involving collaboration between domestic and international researchers. Demonstrating transparency and responsibility, China advanced key research in areas such as clinical and molecular epidemiology, environmental studies, and animal host identification, working closely with the WHO.

The white paper highlights the findings from joint WHO-China studies, which included comprehensive epidemiological and molecular research. These investigations found no evidence supporting Wuhan as the natural origin of the virus and dismissed the lab leak theory as highly unlikely. These efforts provided crucial data and methodological guidance for future global research.

Guided by the principle of building a shared global community, China actively engaged in international cooperation by promptly sharing Covid-19 information and genome data with the WHO and other countries. It also welcomed WHO expert teams for joint studies, openly shared successful strategies for managing the outbreak, and supplied large-scale aid to affected countries.

The white paper criticizes the United States for politicizing the virus origin issue rather than addressing its own flawed pandemic response. It argues that this deflection has harmed global cooperation efforts and that evidence suggests the virus may have appeared in the U.S. before its officially acknowledged date. The paper calls for a comprehensive investigation within the U.S. to satisfy global concerns.

According to the document, infectious diseases pose a collective threat to humanity. Politicizing scientific research or spreading disinformation for political gain endangers global health. China reaffirms its commitment to work with all countries to improve public health systems and prevent future disease outbreaks.