bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Wang Xiangwei

US President Joe Biden’s recent decision to order spies to investigate the origins in China of the Covid-19 pandemic has opened up a new front in the battle between Washington and Beijing. 
Biden’s statement, on May 26, was framed to suggest that he had ordered US intelligence agencies to determine whether the virus originated in animals and spread to humans or whether it was the result of a lab accident – and to report back to him within 90 days. However, its actual effect has been to put the spotlight on something that until recently had been dismissed by the world’s leading scientists as a fringe conspiracy theory.
Since then, US politicians and mainstream media have pushed the narrative that China is hiding information regarding the origins of the pandemic, particularly relating to the Wuhan Institute of Virology that specialises in coronavirus research and is located in the city where the first case of the virus was reported.
Beijing has reacted furiously, accusing Washington of politicising the pandemic to stigmatise China and urging an international investigation into similar facilities in the United States, particularly the military lab at Fort Detrick, which studies high-level pathogens including Ebola and was reported to have shut temporarily for safety issues in 2019.


US media reports have indicated that the lab, formally known as the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), was also involved in the development of the drug Remdesivir which was touted by former US president Donald Trump and is used in the emergency treatment of Covid-19 patients.
Moreover, in response to a question on Tuesday on whether China had refused a further investigation by the World Health Organization, Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesman, did not directly address the question but said that the WHO’s two field trips to China to trace the origins of the virus this year had produced authoritative and science-based conclusions. He suggested the focus should now shift to other parts of the world where outbreaks began in multiple locations as early as the second half of 2019, months earlier than the first known case reported in China in late December 2019.
Could the coronavirus have come from a lab? The theory was too quickly ruled out, scientists say
In March, a report based on a WHO-China joint study said that the virus was “extremely unlikely” to have leaked from a lab and called for a focus on a hypothesis that the disease was transferred to humans through contact with an intermediary host, most likely bats, which are known to carry coronaviruses.
Beijing’s angry responses probably mean that it is unlikely to accommodate further international investigations. But by being defensive, China will add credence to the US-led narrative that China has something to hide.
A much better option is for Beijing to go on the offensive by allowing further international investigations into the Wuhan lab under the auspices of the United Nations on the condition that the US opens its facilities at Fort Detrick to a similar investigation to address Beijing’s concerns.

It is true that most experts have previously dismissed the speculation about a lab-leak as a fringe conspiracy theory, and many still do, but the US-led investigation into this scenario will focus international attention. Already, an increasing number of scientists including Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases expert, are publicly backing an investigation into the lab-leak theory.
Even WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has called for further investigation to rule out the lab-leak theory completely.
Politics aside, it is crucial for the world to make concerted efforts to find a definitive answer on where the virus came from so that mankind can better prepare for a future pandemic.
Coronavirus: new call for fresh look at natural and lab origin theories
Furthermore, let’s face it: for a pandemic that has caused more than 170 million infections, 3.7 million deaths and economic devastation globally, people around the world yearn to find the real culprit.
The US-led narrative that Beijing is stonewalling new investigations threatens to further damage China’s image and standing in the world at a time when its relations with many Western countries have worsened over allegations about human rights, Xinjiang, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping seemed to recognise China’s image problem and called for more efforts to develop “a voice” in international discourse that matches its national strength and global status, presenting a true, multidimensional and panoramic view of the country.
Beijing going on the offence could also serve to wrong-foot Washington’s move to use spooks to probe the origins of the virus. US intelligence agencies have been on this since soon after the outbreak in late 2019 but so far have not produced credible solid evidence pointing to a lab leak. If they had, they would have released it by now. It makes one wonder what difference 90 more days will make.
So far some American politicians have made a big deal of a declassified report that three researchers at the Wuhan lab were hospitalised in November 2019 with flu-like symptoms consistent with Covid-19. That is circumstantial and can be easily explained away that they simply suffered from a bad flu in the winter season.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials and state media have long pushed a conspiracy theory that the virus originated outside China, suggesting that it may have come from the lab at Fort Detrick. They cite the lab’s previous shutdowns for safety violations, the rise of e-cigarette or vaping associated lung injuries and an early flu season in some other parts of the country in 2019. For sure, those allegations are made without credible evidence but from the Chinese perspective, they should be investigated just like the allegations about the Wuhan lab.


Furthermore, though it may seem counterintuitive, it is in China’s interests to allow greater access to the lab as doing so would highlight its international links.
It is China’s first biosafety level four laboratory, which studies easily transmitted pathogens that can cause fatal diseases including Ebola. It was designed and built with French technology and money. And researchers at the lab, including Shi Zhengli, the renowned virologist known as “China’s batwoman”, have received US funding and worked with US scientists to study whether and how bat coronaviruses could affect humans. All this means that informed parties in the international community have already got a pretty good idea of what the Wuhan lab is capable of and what it is not. 
Shi reportedly shared her findings with Ralph Baric, a leading US expert on coronaviruses, who was the research brains behind the drug Remdesivir. According to US media reports and government documents, the US military lab at Fort Detrick was also involved, as early as 2014, in the initial research for the drug, which was originally aimed at Ebola patients.
Back in January, Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies director, compared hunting for the origins of the virus to building a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Taking another hard look at China is important but it is equally important to probe theories and reports about the US and the rest of the world to form a complete picture.
Wang Xiangwei is a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post. He is now based in Beijing as editorial adviser to the paper


China should allow a Covid-19 leak theory probe at Wuhan lab – if US does the same at Fort Detrick

Personnel at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick. Photo: AFP

The laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Photo: AFP

A member of a World Health Organization team during a field visit in Wuhan earlier this year. Photo: AP 

This Week in Asia

Opinion

Comment


If Beijing plays defensive it risks feeding Washington’s narrative that China has something to hide. Far better to go on the offensive
It is natural for the world to demand a definitive answer as to the origins of the coronavirus. For that, a hard look at not only China, but the US and the rest of the world, is needed



It is natural for the world to demand a definitive answer as to the origins of the coronavirus. For that, a hard look at not only China, but the US and the rest of the world, is needed, writes Wang Xiangwei.


China Briefing

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Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

China Briefing | China should allow a Covid-19 leak theory probe at Wuhan lab – if US does the same at Fort Detrick