Thread by @JChengWSJ

As the WHO-led coronavirus origins probe finalizes its report a month after its Wuhan mission, its constraints are becoming clear. @drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage on how little power it had to conduct a thorough probe.
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage The WHO asked the U.S. to recommend experts, but didn’t contact the three that Washington put forward, though it added another U.S. scientist to the team. Beijing hasn’t publicly identified most Chinese participants or shared raw data on the first cases.
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage China resisted pressure for an investigation it saw as an attempt to assign blame, delayed the probe for months, secured veto rights over participants and insisted its scope encompass other countries as well. on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage As for the U.S., the Trump administration’s early assertions that the virus may have come from a laboratory soured diplomatic efforts to press China to allow a more rigorous probe; it also quit the WHO.
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage The WHO's governing executive board, which includes representatives from 34 governments, wasn’t brought in to consult on negotiating the terms of research. Instead, the WHO hashed out those details directly with China.
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage The team’s first visit was to a hospital where they met a doctor Beijing feted as the first to raise alarms through official channels. The next day, they went to an exhibition commemorating China’s “decisive victory" and paying tribute to Xi’s leadership.
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW

@drewhinshaw @betswrites @JNBPage The upshot: What should have been a timely collaborative scientific inquiry has become slower, harder and more opaque. The world now risks never finding an answer to the virus’s origins.
@JNBPage @drewhinshaw @betswrites
on.wsj.com/3ttUjfW