THAT is what I am interested in.
What were the Chicoms up to?
What were they up to? The same thing other scientists were up to. Performing extremely risky Gain of Function studies in the hope of creating a cure and selling it.
The idea that this was created as a weapon doesnt fit. Viruses dont make very good weapons. They mutate, are impossible to control, and their use would be an attack on the world as well as yourself. Even Japan knew this in WWII hence why the Emperor shelved their plan to use them against the US.
China loves money. There is far more money in creating cures than in creating bioweapons. There are two things the Chicoms are known for: Recklessness and greed. Whether its trying to smuggle Ebola out of Africa, smuggling SARS out of Canada, stealing god knows how many patents out of the US, or damn near breaking the internet with their hacking, China makes big moves for big gains.
The number of coincidences and the anecodatal evidence pointing toward that lab in Wuhan is overwhelming. China’s reaction, the scientists working there and their previous experience, the fact that lab has 4 previous containment failures, and COVID-19’s details make it more likely than not that China screwed up big time. We were all warned about the risks of Gain of Function studies. Google it and see the timeline for yourself and what scientists were saying. They were predicting a scenario just like this.
It is rapidly ceasing to matter.
Presuming that this was a bioweapon experiment that escaped from the labs, it is clear that the Chinese do not have a vaccine or other effective means to control the disease.
Because of official propaganda and harsh penalties for contradicting the party line, the Chinese do not really know what they have loose in their country either. They are screwed.
"Now you know it works. Any questions?" (Stephen King - The Stand)
We might have better prospects in the West due to less control and concealment of adverse information. Effective responses will depend on actions from accurate information.
I can't assess the conflicting reports with much confidence. There are substantial (albeit short-term) incentives to lie or mislead on all sides of the question; "Just how bad is this, and what should we do about it?"
The purported effectiveness of Ebola and AIDS anti-viral drugs against COVID-19 is encouraging.