A staff member conducts disinfection in preparation for the reopening of the Tianmen Mountain scenic spot in Zhangjiajie, central China's Hunan Province, Aug. 26, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)
"I understand that powerful countries try to blame other countries for such global epidemics," a former Bangladeshi health minister said, adding he thinks finding COVID-19 origins is "a matter of competition for dominance in the world politics."
by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 origins tracing is not a political issue, and Washington's laying blame on China is an attempt to serve its political purposes, a former Bangladeshi health minister has said.
As the coronavirus spread in the United States, former U.S. President Donald Trump "pressured the WHO (World Health Organization) to blame China for the spread of the coronavirus in order to divert the attention of his country's people," Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.
"We are aware that the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 study was constituted in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, and a report was published in February 2020. So at first China gave the opportunity to search the source of origin of the virus," he said.
Meanwhile, the political veteran said it is understood that from the very beginning a group wanted to blame China for political reasons.
"America has pressured the WHO from the beginning. What is happening now is a repetition of America's previous policy," he said.
Photo taken on March 30, 2021 shows an exterior view of the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Chen Junxia)
Hossain, who was the president of the 56th World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2003, pointed out that after the outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) years ago, "Western countries, including the United States, wanted to blame China."
These nations proposed a resolution at the 56th WHA in May 2003, blaming China for the origin of the SARS virus, he said, adding the "proposal was rejected at a meeting for fixing agenda for the 56th World Health Assembly under my chairmanship."
"I understand that powerful countries try to blame other countries for such global epidemics," he said, adding he thinks finding COVID-19 origins is "a matter of competition for dominance in the world politics."
COVID-19 origins tracing is "a sensitive and scientific matter," and experts will give their views on the origins of this deadly coronavirus in the future through integrated research in due course, said the geologist-turned politician.
"Researchers have revealed the origin of the viruses that have occurred in the world at different times in the past," he said, adding the search for COVID-19 origins "should be at normal speed."
A medical worker inoculates a man with a dose of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 19, 2021. (Xinhua)
Hossain, who became a professor of geology at Dhaka University in 1986, has been a member of the standing committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) since 1994.
Currently, the priority for the whole world is to adopt vaccination programs to prevent the spread of the virus, said the leader from Bangladesh's largest opposition party.
"If this corona prevention is not possible in all countries, it may spread all over the world again," he said. "That is why it is important to prioritize immunization programs, not searching coronavirus sources."
Since the establishment of Bangladesh-China diplomatic relations more than four decades ago, Bangladesh's formal relations with China have been strong, Hossain said.
China "sent a medical team to Bangladesh at the outset of the pandemic outbreak here," he mentioned.
With reference to Chinese vaccine supports to Bangladesh and many other countries, he said, "We warmly welcome China's initiative. We have a very old relationship with the people of China." ■
