Coronavirus: inquiry push ‘honest’, says Scott Morrison as China caves

Scott Morrison says Australia’s push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 is being done with ‘honest intent’.

‘We just want to know what happened so it doesn’t happen again’: Scott Morrison. Picture: Getty Images

Scott Morrison says Australia’s push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 is being done with “honest intent”, as China conceded to a World Health Organisation investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

“You can’t let the trail go cold,” the Prime Minister said on Friday, as he maintained that the call for an investigation was not “directed at anyone”. “We just want to know what happened so it doesn’t happen­ again. It’s a pretty honest question with an honest intent and an honest­ motive, and I’m seeing more and more support for that position.’’

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne says an independent COVID-19 review will only strengthen global health. Picture: AAP

Australia proposed an inquiry­ into the origins of COVID-19 three weeks ago, provoking­ sharp criticism from China’s government, which remains­ highly sensitive about the early handling of the virus in Wuhan late last year and early this year.

The highly infectious corona­virus — which many scientists believe­ emerged from the trade of wild animals — has now killed more than 269,000 people around the world, devastated the global economy and inflamed inter­national relations, particularly be­tween­ the world’s two super­powers.

Increasing global support for an inquiry, as well as extraordin­ary accusations by the Trump administration this week about the virus’s possible emergence from a lab in Wuhan, has led to a concession in China’s position on an ­inquiry into COVID-19’s origins.

The EU, the US and New Zealand have supported an inquiry, but discussions continue as to when it would begin and how it would be organised. Foreign Minister Marise Payne welcomed the discussion about an independent COVID-19 review.

“It is through open consult­ation and dialogue that we will establish­ a model for the review that compels broad international support,’’ Senator Payne told The Weekend Australian. “As we have consistently said, the review should be aimed at strengthening co-operation on global health to better protect all of our citizens.”

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying says China objects to political tracing of the virus.

China’s foreign ministry in Beijing said it would allow a separate review by the WHO into the origins of the virus “at an appropriate time”. “China will make our due efforts and contributions with a high sense of responsibility,” said China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying.

“What we object to is the attempt to politicise the tracing of the origin of the virus by the US and some other countries,” she said at a press conference.

The concession came after the WHO — which has been widely criticised for its relationship with China — said it was in discussions with China about sending a second­ mission to the virus’s original epicentre of Wuhan.

“(It) would be more academic in focus and really focus on looking at what happened at the beginning in terms of exposures with different animals,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist who was part of the team that visited China in February.

“Without knowing where the animal origin is, it’s hard to prevent it from happening again.’’

Only a few “select team members” of the 25 visiting experts were allowed to go to Wuhan on the trip. The WHO team was kept away from the South China Seafood Wholesale Market, to which many patients were first linked.

The market was disinfected and shuttered on December 31 by authorities in Wuhan, which has complicated any future search for the coronavirus’s origins.