The Chinese government — which has defied efforts by international inspectors to examine labs within the country or share detailed details about COVID-19 — still claimed on Tuesday that it has been “open and transparent” within the search to find out how the worldwide pandemic originated.
China had “shared essentially the most data and research results on virus tracing and made necessary contributions to global virus tracing research,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning Mao told reporters after the US Energy Department assessed the coronavirus leaked from a lab in town of Wuhan.
Mao went on to demand the US answer questions on its own biological labs and repeated a conspiracy theory pushed by China that the deadly disease was developed and leaked from Fort Detrick, a military installation in Maryland.
“Politicizing the problem of virus tracing is not going to smear China but will only damage the US’ own credibility,” Mao said, responding to a reporter asking about her response to US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns demanding more transparency from Beijing.
“Mr. Burns must do more to assist improve China-US relations and promote mutual understanding between the 2 peoples, slightly than the other,” Mao said.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the Energy Department had concluded with “low confidence” that the pandemic, which has killed almost 7 million people worldwide and greater than 1 million within the US, by chance emerged from a lab.
In response to the report, Burns said that the ruling Chinese Communist Party must “be more honest about what happened there three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis.”
He also called for China to be more cooperative with the World Health Organization.
But noting the strained relationship between Beijing and Washington over the Chinese spy balloon that flew over much of the US before being shot down Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina, Burns remarked that China is attempting to turn the tables on the US.
“We’re now on this surreal moment where the Chinese, who I feel lost the talk over the balloon globally, lost influence and credibility all over the world due to what they’ve done – they’re now blaming this on us,” Burns said.
“It’s a little bit bit Orwellian. And it’s a little bit bit frustrating, because I feel everybody knows the reality here,” he continued.
China and its ruling Communist Party shall be the main focus of a Tuesday night hearing of a brand-new House select committee examining the rivalry between the 2 nations.
The hearing is titled “The Chinese Communist Party’s Threat to America.”
