-There's no evidence that the coronavirus
plaguing the world was engineered.
Most scientists agree that it came from nature,
but that's not the same thing as saying
it didn't come from the lab.
It simply means that this lab may have had an accident,
and that accident caused the spread of the pandemic.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology
was the world's premier lab researching bat coronaviruses
and their possible transmission to humans.
For many years, the head of that lab, Dr Lee,
had published papers
establishing that bat coronaviruses
had the potential to be transmitted to humans,
and she was using several bat coronaviruses
in experiments with other animals.
Nearby, at the Wuhan Center for Disease Control
and Prevention lab, they were also studying bat coronaviruses.
Over the last two months,
these previously-forgotten diplomatic cables
were widely circulated inside the Trump administration
as officials debated whether or not the novel coronavirus
that's plaguing the world could have originated
from one of these two labs in Wuhan
that were studying bat coronaviruses for many years.
-Chinese authorities have traced a new deadly virus
back to this seafood market in the city of Wuhan.
-The cables seemed newly relevant in light of the fact
that there was a lack of information
coming out of these labs
and that the Chinese government's original story
that the virus emanated from the Wuhan seafood market
seemed to be falling apart.
Right now, we do not know the origin of the novel coronavirus.
One big reason we don't know is because the Chinese government
has instituted a severe clampdown
on any information related to its origin.
The seafood market in Wuhan has been sterilized.
The lab has been silent.
All public research is now restricted
by the Chinese government.
So, while we can't say that the virus originated from the lab,
we can't rule it out, either.
-Do you have any evidence the virus began in a Chinese lab
and maybe was released accidentally?
-On the lab piece, that's -- there's a lot of rumor
and speculation in a wide variety of media,
the blog sites, et cetera.
It should be no surprise to you that we've taken a keen interest
in that, and we've had
a lot of intelligence take a hard look at that.
And I would just say at this point, it's inconclusive,
although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural.
But we don't know for certain.
-The US-China bilateral relationship
has been deteriorating
every since the Trump administration came into office.
This has prevented robust cooperation from happening
and provided for an environment where the Chinese government
doesn't trust the US government to share information,
and vice versa.
-Why do you keep calling this the Chinese virus?
There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias
against Chinese-Americans in this country.
Your own aid, Secretary Azar, says he does not use this term.
He says ethnicity does not cause the virus.
Why do you keep using this. A lot of people say it's racist.
-'Cause it comes from China. It's not racist at all, no.
Not at all. It comes from China.
-Both sides have decided to stand down on accusations
in order to facilitate cooperation
and because the Chinese government
is still holding lots of medical equipment
that it could prevent the United States from receiving,
if it chose to do so.
Nevertheless, there are people inside the administration
that want this information to come out,
and that's probably why I received these cables.
The outbreak story is not just about blame.
Determining the exact way the virus originated is crucial
to determining how we respond.
It's also critical scientific information
that will help us prevent the next pandemic,
which is sure to come.