Fu Cong, Director General of the Department of Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Fort Detrick had a mature coronavirus synthesis and transformation capability as early as 2003

Source: Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On August 25, 2021, Fu Cong, director general of the Department of Arms Control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a briefing on issues related to the traceability of the new crown, which was attended by some foreign media reporters in Beijing.

I. Fu Cong said that Ambassador Chen Xu, Permanent Representative of China in Geneva, sent a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on August 24, reiterating China's consistent position on the issue of traceability, and stressing that the wuhan institute of virology leaks are extremely unlikely, which is a clear conclusion from the joint China-WHO traceability study; if the relevant parties insist that laboratory leaks cannot be ruled out, they should investigate the FORT Detrick base and the University of North Carolina in the United States in a fair and just manner. Ambassador Chen Xu also submitted two non-documents with the letter, "Doubts about Fort Detrick (U.S. Army Institute of Infectious Diseases Medical Research)" and "On the Coronavirus Research Conducted by the Barrick Team at the University of North Carolina", as well as the open letter of netizens who requested to investigate Fort Detrick.

Second, Fu Cong said that the international community has long had serious concerns about Fort Detrick. The base is the home base for U.S. biomilitary activities, of which the Army's Institute of Infectious Diseases is the most important entity. As early as 2003, the institute had an extremely mature ability to synthesize and modify coronaviruses; there have been many biosecurity incidents in history, especially in July 2019, when the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered the closure of its laboratory; after the closure, the outbreak of respiratory diseases similar to new crown pneumonia near Fort Detrick, the real causes and specific cases have not been announced.

With regard to the University of North Carolina, the United States has been smearing the Wuhan Institute of Virology for causing COVID-19, and in fact the United States is the largest funder and implementer of global functional access research, especially the University's Barrick team is the authority on such research. By investigating Barrick's team and its lab, it is entirely possible to clarify whether and whether the study of the coronavirus has produced the new coronavirus.

Fu Cong pointed out that the United States is the country with the largest number of biological militarization activities in the world, and the concerns of the international community include both Fort Detrick in the United States and more than two hundred biological laboratories outside the United States. The relevant activities are inconsistent with the Biological Weapons Convention and are unknown to the international community. A security incident in so many U.S. laboratories abroad would have disastrous consequences for the countries concerned and the world.

While clamoring for investigations into other countries' laboratories, the United States is the only country opposed to the establishment of a multilateral biometric verification mechanism. As early as 2001, the international community had basically reached agreement on the verification protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention, and it was the United States that suddenly and unilaterally withdrew on the grounds that "the biological field is not verifiable", which led to the futile efforts of the international community. For 20 years, the United States has ignored the voices of the international community and exclusively opposed the resumption of negotiations. Even if there is no traceability issue, the United States should give an account to the international community.

Iv. Fu Cong finally stressed that China's position on the issue of global traceability is consistent and clear. Traceability is a scientific issue, and China has always supported and will continue to participate in scientific traceability. The joint China-WHO study has reached recognized conclusions and recommendations from the international community and the scientific community, which must be respected and implemented, and future global traceability work should and can only be carried out on this basis.

The United States cannot smear China and wash itself away. China once again urges the United States to stop using the issue of traceability for political manipulation. If the United States stubbornly adheres to the laboratory leak theory, it should first invite WHO to the Fort Detrick base and the University of North Carolina to conduct traceability investigations. China will continue to work with the international community to resist the countercurrent of politicizing the issue of traceability and promote the return of the issue to the right track of scientific cooperation.