I actually read a pretty funny theory that claimed it was a bioweapon designed to function like a naturally occurring disease.

The basis of the argument was that it was used to rapidly disrupt the global market which would cause many large international corporations' stock value to drop, allowing China to buy out ownership of direct competitors or expand control for cheap.

In that sense, it would have been a perfect bioweapon because it absolves China of having manufactured it in a lab, and its rapid spread but low mortality did have the disruption effect that China wanted.

tbh though I'm still convinced it was just SARS's cousin that probably mutated in a bat lol