DONALD Trump could declassify bombshell secret intelligence about the outbreak of Covid-19 linking it to a Wuhan research lab as one of his last acts as President.
Ministers are on “red alert” for a major intervention from the outgoing US government within days that claims the origin of the outbreak was a Chinese science facility.
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They believe the US State Department could reveal evidence of the deadly bug escaping from the lab and even its scientists links to the Chinese Army.
On Monday the White House enigmatically warned: “The world cannot continue to pay heavy prices for its naiveté and complicity in Beijing’s irresponsible and harmful practices – whether it is ending the rule of law in Hong Kong or not cooperating with health officials on the pandemic.
“The United States is examining further options to respond.”
A well placed diplomatic source told The Sun: “The US have stopped short of this so far but anything could happen in the coming days and the origin of the virus is top of their list.”
And a UK government source added there has been “increasing chatter” that Mr Trump and his top diplomat Mike Pompeo were planning a devastating broadside against the Chinese Communist Party over their handling of the outbreak in late 2019.
‘BARBARIC’
Pushed on the matter yesterday, No10 said it was committed to an investigation into the origin of Covid in China, and called on Beijing to allow the probe to start as soon as possible.
The PM’s official spokesman said: “We’ve been clear on the investigation and on our desire for it to commence and answer the questions that are still outstanding.
“Investigators are now due to arrive in China and as we’ve said throughout it’s important that their investigation is able to commence without delay and we want it to make sure it is open and transparent and scientifically rigorous.”
In a separate attack on the superpower, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab slapped new restrictions on businesses to stop them profiting from China’s “barbaric” treatment of Uyghur muslims in Xinjiang province.
Mr Raab told the House of Commons of the raft of abuses committed in the Chinese region on the minority muslim population being forced into internment camps for political re-education and forced labour.
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He also said torture and forced sterilisation was happening to the population “on an industrial scale.”
The Foreign Secretary told MPs: “It is truly horrific barbarism we had hoped was lost to another era, in practice today, as we speak, in one of the leading members of the international community.
“We have a moral duty to respond.”
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