US call for virus probe distraction from its crisis: ex-UN official

Beijing has good reason to be suspicious about Washington's renewed calls for a "real" investigation into the origins of the novel coronavirus, said former UN official Alfred de Zayas, according to Sputnik on Tuesday.

Zayas told the Moscow-based news platform that he has seen how allegedly "independent" probes have turned into fishing expeditions and "blame games".

Although US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan certainly understands that China cannot be isolated, he also knows that fake news has a powerful impact in the perception of legal issues, wrote the Russian news agency.

When asked what is behind Washington's renewed push for launching a new coronavirus origins probe, Zayas said "the US wants to deflect attention from its own mismanagement of the COVID crisis", adding that the US has zero evidence – only suspicions and conspiracy theories.

For the US there is always "added value" to the blame game, he said.

"It is a disgrace that COVID-19 caught the US thoroughly unprepared, notwithstanding US 'intelligence' dating back to November 2019," said Zayas in the interview.

Instead of reinvigorating US research and development into a more efficient and ecologically responsible economy, "the US prefers to resort to disinformation campaigns, fear-mongering, and sterile 'naming and shaming' - which, predictably, have no impact on China, but are useful for US domestic politics", he added.