China ‘could EXECUTE Wuhan scientists and then blame them for Covid leak in desperate bid to save face’

Shocking biosecurity lapses spanning over 40 years have led some to question the official Chinese line that the disease was passed from animals to human.

And the theory that the pandemic emerged from a lab in Wuhan is gaining momentum, stepping from being dismissed as a “conspiracy” to a genuine concern.

British spies are looking into the theory – and consider it “feasible” – while US President Joe Biden has ordered the intelligence community will “redouble their efforts” to discover the origins of the outbreak.

And an expert has now warned China could launch its own manhunt to find the “culprits” behind a possible leak – and execute them.

Ross Terrill, a research associate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the author of 11 books on China, said President Xi Jinping might acknowledge the possibility of a “freak lab accident” to save face.

“China might find culprits for the mistake in the lab and execute them, to show Beijing’s pure intentions,” Terrill, 83, told The Sun.

“The world will not be pleased, but it gets China off the hook – showing no malign intention.”

China is believed to carry out the most executions in the world using firing squads, lethal injections and mobile death vans.

But Terrill, from Australia, said this tactic is “risky” as Xi would be confirming the deadly Covid outbreak “started its nasty life” in Wuhan, leaving itself wide open to a fierce global backlash.

“I still think if the evidence of an accidental leak grows, China would be better off to say so and move on from there,” he added.

“We’ve reached the point where people all over the world want to know more about this.

“There are some American scientists who are already convinced it jumped out of a Wuhan laboratory.

“The Chinese, in the end, could agree with this without the world collapsing.

“Viruses do escape from laboratories and as long the Biden probe dismisses the idea China did it deliberately to infect the world, why is it such a loss of face for China to admit it was an accident?”

‘POLITICAL TROUBLE’

But Terrill, who traces China’s history in his new memoir Australian Bush to Tiananmen Square, warned that Xi might be in “political trouble” – and the truth about a potential lab leak might never be uncovered.

“The China ‘cover-up’ – this is a political decision,” Terrill said.

“Everything is a cover-up in China, and I’m not sure we will ever get the truth because ‘China Inc’ is just behaving in its usual fashion.”

The political scientist added: “If Xi miscalculated the first WHO visit in winter 2019, don’t rule out that Xi might be in political trouble.

“Xi appears to be riding high, but there are Chinese who think he has overreached.

“Some people are saying he is overreaching and if some kind of resolution to the origin is not made about Covid, it could be a political problem for Xi. His position in power could be threatened.

“For some Chinese friends of mine, removing the terms of power is a problem. Xi has broken the post-Mao pattern and that’s enough for some people to not like him.

“But then he’s adored by others, called ‘Grandpa Xi’, because he has a big personality about him. With the Chinese, you don’t know how deep it runs.”

Yet Terrill, who made his first trip to Beijing in 1964, insisted the Covid disaster will not be “enough” to “trigger the collapse of the regime” in China.

“Keeping mouths closed and minds shut is what the Chinese government does, and must do,” Terrill said.

“Minds and mouths must be kept bottled up. I do not think Covid is enough to trigger the collapse of the regime.

“If Xi falls, he’ll be OK personally. All other post-Mao falls – Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, Qiao Shi, it was akin to forced retirement. That would be all for Xi. He can’t be trashed or treated like a used Kleenex.”

Read the full story in The Sun