Beijing [China], May 1 (ANI): In a pointed rebuttal to US President Donald Trump’s recent allegations, China has accused the United States of being the origin of COVID-19. The Chinese government claims that the US is attempting to “shift the blame” after Trump asserted that the virus was leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan.
According to the Chinese government, “substantial evidence” suggests that COVID-19 may have originated in the US even before the outbreak in China. In a white paper, China further dismissed the lab leak theory as “extremely unlikely,” suggesting instead that the virus may have been circulating in the US prior to its official recognition in China.
Chinese officials stated, “The US government, instead of confronting its failures in responding to COVID-19 and reflecting on its shortcomings, has attempted to deflect responsibility by politicizing the tracing of SARS-CoV-2 origins.”
The Chinese government’s allegations align with a report suggesting that COVID-19 may have circulated in the United States earlier than previously recognized. These accusations follow the White House’s recent update to its COVID-19 information, which stated that a lab-related incident, particularly involving gain-of-function research, was “the most likely” origin of the virus.
A section of the newly revamped White House webpage read, “A lab-related incident involving gain-of-function research is the most likely origin of COVID-19,” as reported by the New York Post.
Earlier in January, the CIA suggested that the virus was more likely to have originated in a laboratory rather than in nature. However, the agency clarified that it had “low confidence” in this conclusion and noted that both lab and natural origins remained possible. Other federal agencies, including the FBI, have expressed similar views regarding the lab leak theory.
In contrast, China’s white paper referred to a joint study conducted with the World Health Organization (WHO), which found that COVID-19 likely jumped from bats to humans through another animal. It also criticized the US for its handling of the pandemic, stating that the US “severely undermined joint international efforts” in combating the disease and had become a “weak link” in global public health governance.
The report also addressed accusations that China had covered up the virus’s severity in the early stages. Chinese officials concluded that the US could no longer “turn a deaf ear to the numerous questions over its conduct” in the handling of COVID-19.
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