Questions Surround Investigation Into COVID Origins

After President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, many questions remain as to whether a definitive answer can be extracted from a probe.

Reports have recently gained more credibility that the coronavirus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Among other reports, British spies have recently stated that it is "feasible" that COVID-19 leaked from a lab.

Appearing Sunday on "Meet the Press," Matthew Pottinger, who served as a deputy national security advisor from September 2019 to January 2021, was asked by anchor Chuck Todd about the level of cooperation he expects from the Chinese government.

“It might take more than 90 days, but look, if this thing came out of a lab, there are people in China who probably know that. We know that there are a lot of scientists in China -- China has incredible and ethical scientists, many of whom in the early stages of the pandemic, came out to say they suspected this was a lab leak,” Pottinger said.

“Even the Wuhan Institute of Virology had first said, or first thought, ‘Was this a leak from my lab?’ So those people have been systematically silenced by their government," he said.

Pottinger was optimistic that the U.S. investigation may motivate silenced scientists to speak up.

“That might also provide moral courage to many of these ethical scientists in China, for whom I think this is, this is weighing on their consciences. I think that we’re going to see more information come out as a result of this inquiry,” he said.

The U.S. intelligence community has suspected that the virus was either the result of a laboratory incident or human contact with an infected animal.

Beijing has been criticized for not raising alarms about the outbreak. Chinese officials have recently accused the U.S. of politicizing the pandemic.

Photo: AFP / HECTOR RETAMAL