From a scientific standpoint (from what I understand of it), bats are huge carriers of disease. They generally have many diseases at a time. Certain creatures are amplifier creatures that can take in many different types of disease and amplify them, making it more likely that it's mutate and infect another species (human for example)
Pangolins are an amplifier species. Pangolins also live near bats. Not just any bats. Bats that have been found to hold more diseases than any other species on the planet (side note, there's more different species of bats than there is on mammals. Not related, just found that interesting)
The belief is that a bat passed the virus on to a pangolin, then a Chinese person was infected by the Pangolin. Potentially by eating the Pangolin, but more likely they got it from either being bitten by it or by cleaning a Pangolin and getting Pangolin shit on their hands, then eating food without washing their hands.
BTW, Pangolins are used in Chinese medicine to boost stupidity or some shit like that.