China rejects new US new Covid origin probe
Published: 10:05 PM,May 27,2021 | EDITED : 08:05 PM,May 27,2021
Beijing: China rejected US President Joe Biden's order for anew investigation by US intelligence agencies into the origins of the coronavirus, accusing the US of trying to politicise the search.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday accused the US of trying to pin the blame for the pandemic on China and defended his country against suspicions that the coronavirus may have escaped from a Chinese laboratory following an accident.
He stressed that World Health Organization (WHO) experts had concluded in February that a leak from a lab was 'extremely unlikely' after they had conducted investigations in the central city of Wuhan.
'Some people in the US are turning a blind eye to the facts,' Zhao said, adding that they are trying to distract from their own 'incompetent response' to the pandemic. He also suggested that the coronavirus could have originated from a US military laboratory.
'There are many doubts about [the lab] at Fort Detrick - and the US has more than 200 biological laboratories in the world,' he said.
If the US asked China to participate in a full investigation, he said, China in turn would ask the US to follow China's lead and allow international investigations.
China's embassy in the United States said on Thursday that politicising the origins of Covid-19 would hamper investigations.
As the World Health Organization prepares to begin a second phase of investigations into the origins of Covid-19, China has been under pressure to give international investigators more access, saying that the United States and other countries were trying to distract attention from their own failures to contain the virus.
The embassy said on Thursday that 'some political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and (the) blame game.' China supports 'a comprehensive study of all early cases of Covid-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories all over the world,' it said in remarks attributed to a spokesperson, posted on its website.
'Very clearly they are trying to internationalise their way out of the jam they are in,' said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, who has been campaigning for a new independent investigation.
A joint China-WHO study published in March said that it was highly improbable that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the lab, adding that it most likely spread from bats to humans via an as yet unidentified intermediary species.
China has also continued to point to the possibility that Covid-19 originated in another country and entered via infected frozen food or through southeast China wildlife trade networks.
The Global Times tabloid, part of the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper group, said late on Wednesday that if the 'lab leak theory' is to be further investigated, the United States should also allow investigators into its own facilities.
'The pandemic started in China,' Metzl said. 'Let's start with a full investigation there and expand as necessary. In short, this (statement from the embassy) is an outrageous insult to every person who has died from this terrible tragedy and their families.' dpa & Reuters
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday accused the US of trying to pin the blame for the pandemic on China and defended his country against suspicions that the coronavirus may have escaped from a Chinese laboratory following an accident.
He stressed that World Health Organization (WHO) experts had concluded in February that a leak from a lab was 'extremely unlikely' after they had conducted investigations in the central city of Wuhan.
'Some people in the US are turning a blind eye to the facts,' Zhao said, adding that they are trying to distract from their own 'incompetent response' to the pandemic. He also suggested that the coronavirus could have originated from a US military laboratory.
'There are many doubts about [the lab] at Fort Detrick - and the US has more than 200 biological laboratories in the world,' he said.
If the US asked China to participate in a full investigation, he said, China in turn would ask the US to follow China's lead and allow international investigations.
China's embassy in the United States said on Thursday that politicising the origins of Covid-19 would hamper investigations.
As the World Health Organization prepares to begin a second phase of investigations into the origins of Covid-19, China has been under pressure to give international investigators more access, saying that the United States and other countries were trying to distract attention from their own failures to contain the virus.
The embassy said on Thursday that 'some political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and (the) blame game.' China supports 'a comprehensive study of all early cases of Covid-19 found worldwide and a thorough investigation into some secretive bases and biological laboratories all over the world,' it said in remarks attributed to a spokesperson, posted on its website.
'Very clearly they are trying to internationalise their way out of the jam they are in,' said Jamie Metzl, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, who has been campaigning for a new independent investigation.
A joint China-WHO study published in March said that it was highly improbable that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the lab, adding that it most likely spread from bats to humans via an as yet unidentified intermediary species.
China has also continued to point to the possibility that Covid-19 originated in another country and entered via infected frozen food or through southeast China wildlife trade networks.
The Global Times tabloid, part of the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper group, said late on Wednesday that if the 'lab leak theory' is to be further investigated, the United States should also allow investigators into its own facilities.
'The pandemic started in China,' Metzl said. 'Let's start with a full investigation there and expand as necessary. In short, this (statement from the embassy) is an outrageous insult to every person who has died from this terrible tragedy and their families.' dpa & Reuters