Foreign Ministry Director General Fu Cong and the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin both accused the United States of politicizing the origins of Covid-19 on Wednesday after Joe Biden received the classified version of the U.S. intelligence report.
A 90-day review of the coronavirus origins was originally ordered by Joe Biden months ago to investigate whether the virus came from Wuhan, China, or form a U.S. military lab in Maryland, Associated Press reported.
Although the results of the review were reportedly “inclusive” as to whether the virus developed from a “lab leak” in Wuhan, Fu aggressively blamed the U.S. for the spread of the coronavirus and even threatened to prepare for a “counterattack” if the U.S. “accused” them, the outlet added.
The senior-ranking official from China even alleged, without evidence, that if the virus did “leak” from a lab, that it would have escaped from a military laboratory in Fort Dedrick, Maryland.
At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s daily news conference, the spokesman stated, “The United States says it lacks information from China. I can tell the United States that this is just an excuse to cover up the failure of its intelligence in origin tracing.”
Chinese officials have been defensive ever since the World Health Organization reported it is unable to determine origins of the coronavirus pandemic due to the limited information available and the lack of transparency China has historically had with providing data to the international community.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus previously criticized China, saying they have “hindered efforts” to find the pandemic’s origin and that all “hypotheses are on the table and warrant complete and further studies.” Yet, WHO officials said Wednesday they remain hopeful that China’s origin studies are “scientific and transparent” even as the country accuses the U.S. of being “political.”
China’s state-sponsored propaganda and media agencies have been slamming U.S. intelligence agencies for the past week, accusing them of “cherry picking” existing evidence, even as reputable sources suggested ahead of time that their 90-day report would provide unclear results. U.S. officials reportedly still do not know whether the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, or whether the transmission occurred from “wet market” pathogens transferred from animals to humans via natural processes.
Joe Biden ordered the 90-day investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in May 2021. Two senior U.S. officials, as well as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, stated on Wednesday that while the President has been briefed on the summary of findings, the unclassified report will be released to the public in the “coming days.”
