Daszak made strenuous efforts to hide:
• that he was the organizer and writer of the letter
• that he had direct and invidious connections to the Wuhan Institute
• that the signatories to the letter had any connection to EcoHealth Alliance or the Wuhan Institute
All of the above were later confirmed by emails obtained via public record requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
That's a strange thing to argue given that Peter Daszak's position within EcoHealth Alliance is public and well-known, and he signed the letter publicly.
His extended conflict statement isn't exactly a smoking gun either:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...
His actions were a self serving attempt to muddy the waters on investigation of the virus origin, and may have prevented conclusive proof one way or the other from ever emerging. I doubt Daszak himself knows for sure. But if there is a risk that you are responsible, why not try cover it up anyway. Just in case?
Same reasoning goes for the Chinese government.
Note that the addendum to the paper was added in March 2020, when Peter Daszak and many others directly associated with the Wuhan Institute were working covertly[0] to destroy any rational or scientific debate about the origins of covid. The Lancet letter was published on 7 March 2020.
[0] Daszak and many of the other co-signers to the Lancet letter which "strongly condemned conspiracy theories” declared no conflicts of interest.