The claim isn't that it was engineered, just that it escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Besides, reports from China predated any from the USA, so for it

The claim isn't that it was engineered, just that it escaped the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Besides, reports from China predated any from the USA, so for it to even be in the USA, CCP needed to have failed in containing it. I'm not denying that the USA's covering it up made it worse, it absolutely did. The US government aren't innocent in the global spread of the virus. But this entire discussion was about whether it originated from a lab break or natural spread through the wet market, so in that context, it doesn't really seem relevant, while CCP's behaviour is relevant in the sense that it paints a picture of them being untrustworthy and having acted shady when their culpability was questioned, so their denials of the WIV break, as well as their other actions (especially denying the WHO the ability to investigate for OVER A YEAR) puts doubt on their story. Doubt, though, isn't definitive proof. I never said that I think it was definitely a lab break, just that I think the chances are higher than many people like to admit and that the CCP have not proven trustworthy. We will probably never know for sure, either way.