American on World Health Organization coronavirus investigation team dismisses US intelligence

Peter Daszak suggests President Joe Biden was only sceptical about the WHO’s trip to Wuhan because he ‘has to look tough on China’

Observers have criticised the inclusion of Daszak as the WHO mission’s sole American because he was affiliated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology

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Peter Daszak, a member of the World Health Organization’s team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, arrives at Wuhan’s airport in China on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 6:32am, 11 Feb 2021Updated: 7:40am, 11 Feb 2021

The lone American on the World Health Organization coronavirus fact-finding mission in China dismissed US intelligence on the virus’ origins and urged the Biden administration to trust the WHO’s work amid criticism that the organisation is insufficiently independent from Beijing.

The comments from Peter Daszak, president of the research organisation EcoHealth Alliance, came after the Biden administration said on Tuesday that the US would not accept the WHO’s findings without first independently verifying them with its own intelligence and conferring with allies.

In a series of tweets responding to a South China Morning Post report on the administration’s comments, Daszak suggested President Joe Biden was only sceptical about the WHO’s trip to Wuhan because he “has to look tough on China”.

“Please don’t rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under Trump & frankly wrong on many aspects,” he tweeted on Tuesday night local time. “Happy to help WH w/ their quest to verify, but don’t forget it’s “TRUST” then “VERIFY”!”

On Wednesday morning local time, Daszak added that he was “disappointed” that the administration had made statements “that might undermine the veracity of this work even before the report is released”.