People's thinking on this topic is tied in pretzels. The origins of covid matter because they will help us prevent the next pandemic. Lab escape and direct zoonotic transfer have radically different implications for how we do that. This is a public health issue, not geopoliticshttps://twitter.com/AliVelshi/status/1398701148333395968 …
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China is an authoritarian surveillance state. They have ample relevant data to help determine the origins of covid, and can choose to share it or not. But our search for the answer should not be conditioned on their willingness to cooperate, or the consequences of making them mad
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Chinese citizens, because they live under authoritarian rule, are unable to pressure their government from within for a candid investigation into the origins of covid. The only possible source of pressure comes from abroad, and we can't abrogate our duty to seek answers.
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If it turns out this was an iatrogenic pandemic, then that also has immense global implications for how we study dangerous pathogens in the future. This is not a "blame China" issue but a basic question of risk.
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Those who equate criticism of the Chinese government with sinophobia or racism are carrying water for a genocidal regime, and doing immense disservice to the very people they claim to be defending.
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Replying to @Pinboard
Alternatively, maybe our best future hope for international cooperation on lab safety issues is to *not* pick a politically-fraught argument with China.
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Replying to @matthew_d_green
What's the point of cooperation on lab safety issues that has no controls, disclosure, or impartial investigation after a pandemic? What's worth preserving here?
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Replying to @Pinboard
There is a future in which China, not faced with a direct accusation of malfeasance and the accompanying loss of face, sits down voluntarily to agree on tougher lab safety standards. Because this is a position that benefits them.
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Replying to @matthew_d_green
It comes down to saying "we have to be nice to China or they'll take even shittier precautions next time." The accusation of malfeasance, if it's wrong, is one they can easily disprove through disclosure.
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Replying to @Pinboard
I think at this point we’ve moved pretty decisively away from a world in which China discloses anything. And fantasizing about it doesn’t help. In the world we live in, is there a good outcome? Even the USSR came to the table over things.
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I'm not a "give up before trying" person, so I think the first good step is investigation, even if the Chinese government offers no assistance. And rewarding their bullying tactics on this or any other point is counterproductive.
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Replying to @Pinboard
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that this was an accidental lab leak. Let’s also assume the CCP knows this. I’m thinking they’re *strongly* incentivized to prevent future leaks. What they won’t accept is any strategy that threatens hold them responsible for COVID.
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Replying to @matthew_d_green @Pinboard
So at a certain point you have to ask what it is you really want. Do you want international lab safety controls? Or do you want to try to find the truth, even if the cost is that you get neither truth nor lab safety controls.
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