China will face ‘international isolation’ if it doesn’t cooperate on COVID-19 origins: Jake Sullivan

Washington [US], June 21 (ANI): China will face ‘isolation in the international community’ if Beijing does not cooperate with a further probe into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday.

In an interview with Fox News, Sullivan praised President Biden for inducing his fellow G-7 leaders to put pressure on China to allow a transparent investigation of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What Joe Biden did in Europe this week was rally the democratic world to speak with a common voice on this issue for the first time since Covid broke out. President Trump wasn’t able to do it. President Biden was. He got the G7 to endorse a statement saying in unison that China must allow an investigation to proceed within its territory,” Sullivan said.

“It is that diplomatic spadework – rallying the nations of the world, imposing political and diplomatic pressure on China, that is a core part of the effort we are undertaking to ultimately face China with a stark choice: Either they will allow, in a responsible way, investigators in to do the real work of figuring out where this came from, or they will face isolation in the international community,” he added.

He further said that the US will not rely solely on China and indicated that America will use the efforts of its intelligence community and allies to press the matter on every front until a result is found.

In a press conference on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said: “China’s trying very hard to project itself as a responsible and very, very forthcoming nation. They are trying very, very hard to talk about how they’re helping the world in terms of COVID-19 and vaccines and they’re trying very hard.”

“One thing we did discuss, as I told you in the EU and at the G7 and with NATO: what we should be doing and what I’m going to try to make an effort to do is rally the world to work on what is going to be the physical mechanism available to detect early on the next pandemic and have a mechanism by which we can respond to it and respond to it early… It’s going to happen and we need to do that,” Fox News quoted him as saying.

This comes after the G7 leaders earlier this month called for a “timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based WHO-convened” investigation into the origins of COVID-19, including, as recommended by the experts’ report, in China.

“Strengthening transparency and accountability, including reiterating our commitment to the full implementation of, and improved compliance with, the International Health Regulations 2005. This includes investigating, reporting and responding to outbreaks of unknown origin. We also call for a timely, transparent, expert-led, and science-based WHO-convened Phase 2 COVID-19 Origins study including, as recommended by the experts’ report, in China,” said the leaders in a joint communique.

The origin of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has remained a mystery even after over 1.5 years the first case of infection was reported in the Wuhan city of China.

After the conclusion of the meeting in the UK, US President Joe Biden on Sunday called on China to act more responsibly in terms of international norms on human rights and transparency concerning the origins of COVID-19.

Speaking to reporters, Biden said: “I think China has to start to act more responsibly in terms of international norms on human rights and transparency. Transparency matters across the board.”

The lab leak theory of COVID-19 origins has recently become the subject of renewed public debate after several prominent scientists called for a full investigation into the origins of the virus. (ANI)