U.S. secretary of state says there is ‘significant’ proof that novel coronavirus originated in Chinese lab

On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that there was “a significant amount of evidence,” that indicated that the novel coronavirus emerged in a Chinese laboratory, but did not dispute the U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that it was not man-made.

Pompeo told ABC:

“There is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan,”

“The best experts so far seem to think it was man-made. I have no reason to disbelieve that at this point,”

Pompeo then backtracked and said:

“I’ve seen what the intelligence community has said. I have no reason to believe that they’ve got it wrong.”

In his statement, Pompeo momentarily contradicted a statement released by the main U.S. intelligence agency last Thursday. The statement claimed that the virus did not appear to be man-made or genetically modified and undercut conspiracy theorists and anti-China activists who claim that it was created in a Chinese biological weapons laboratory.

In an editorial response to Pompeo’s Sunday speech, China’s Global Times, run by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily, said he had no proof that the virus had originated from the Wuhan laboratory and that he was “bluffing,” calling on the United States to show the evidence.

The editorial said:

“The Trump administration continues to engage in unprecedented propaganda warfare while trying to impede global efforts in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic,” 

A report from the National Intelligence Director’s Office, released on Thursday, said it agreed with “the wide scientific consensus” that the virus was not man-made.

For weeks, U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports and research have said they don’t believe that Chinese scientists created the novel coronavirus in a government biological weapons laboratory from which it emerged afterward.

Instead, they have claimed they believe it was either released through human contact with wildlife at a meat market in the central city of Wuhan or that it may have fled from one of two Wuhan government labs suspected to be carrying out civilian work into potential biological hazards.

On Thursday, Pompeo announced that it was unclear whether the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a meat market, or somewhere else. On the same day, Trump said he was sure that it might have emerged in a Chinese virology lab, but declined to release the evidence.