The Chinese government supported a joint study organized by the WHO to investigate the zoonotic origins of the virus, but half the team were Chinese experts and the other half were independent international experts. However, there were controversies surrounding the investigation and accusations of Chinese control over the study.
The Chinese government vetoed the members of the joint study on COVID-19 origins, and its team was comprised of government-affiliated Chinese experts and independent international experts organized by the WHO, failing to pass a resolution calling for a full investigation.
The joint study investigating the zoonotic origins of COVID-19 was not empowered to examine the lab incident origin hypothesis, despite the US government proposing three experts, including those with a lot of background investigating lab incidents. The investigation team included Peter Dasek, who had an established funding relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and had previously collaborated with Shih-Jang Lee on a letter suggesting the virus originated naturally.