Knowledge China calls for restraint after BND evidence on corona
Following reports on findings by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) on the origin of the coronavirus, China has called for restraint. It was about evidence for the hypothesis that the virus originated in a laboratory in China.
13.03.2025, 09:43
SDA
"On the issue of the coronavirus, China firmly rejects any form of political maneuvering," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning in Beijing. The People's Republic believes that scientific issues should be judged by scientists.
Mao referred to a group of experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) who had spoken to researchers from relevant laboratories in Wuhan. This group had come to the conclusion that it was "highly unlikely" that the virus had leaked from there, Mao explained.
However, the WHO has been emphasizing for four years that all hypotheses regarding the origin of the Sars-CoV-2 virus are still on the table. The 2021 investigation was only the beginning, not the end. The WHO only called on China again at the end of December 2024 "to provide data and access so that we can understand the origins of Covid-19. This is a moral and scientific imperative."
Second theory: natural origin
As reported by several media outlets, the Chancellery had asked scientists to examine evidence from the BND regarding the claim that the coronavirus originated in a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. According to the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", the BND had plausible evidence for the so-called laboratory theory. These were to be evaluated by a panel of experts at meetings in recent months.
Information on the assessment of these experts was not initially available. The "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and "Die Zeit" also reported on corresponding research results. According to the laboratory theory, the Sars-CoV-2 virus originates from a Chinese biological laboratory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducts research on coronaviruses, among other things. The second theory is that the virus had a natural origin, just like the Sars epidemic of 2002/2003.
