China slams US accusations it obstructed international investigation into COVID-19 origins

Wrong path of political manipulation

The report by the US intelligence community shows that the US is bent on going down the wrong path of political manipulation, the embassy said.

Stressing the US has registered the world's most COVID-19 infections and deaths, the statement said the report is based on a presumption of guilt on the part of China, and it is only for scapegoating the country.

"Such a practice will only disturb and sabotage international cooperation on origin-tracing and on fighting the pandemic, and has been widely opposed by the international community," the embassy warned.

It added over 300 political parties, social organizations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat, firmly opposing the politicizing the origins tracing.

US shying away from origins tracing

The embassy accused the US of shying away from tracing the origins. "If the US side is 'transparent and responsible', it should make public and examine the data of its early cases."

The statement said in at least five American states, there had been infections before the first confirmed case in the US was announced.

"The timeline of the outbreak in the United States has been revised to earlier dates several times," the statement read and cited the latest coverage from American media, saying the first COVID-19 death in the US was in early January 2020, weeks earlier than previously announced by the authorities, which was early February.

The embassy reiterated that the WHO-China joint study reached the clear conclusion that introduction through a lab accident in Wuhan is "extremely unlikely".

"If the US insists on the lab leak theory, isn't it necessary for the US side to invite WHO experts to Fort Detrick and the University of North Carolina (UNC) for investigation?"

The embassy noted a disease with symptoms similar to COVID-19 broke out in the U.S after Fort Detrick's shutdown in 2019 because of serious safety incidents, adding that the team of Professor Ralph Baric at the UNC possesses extremely mature capability in synthesizing and modifying coronavirus.

The embassy urged the US to find out what happened in its own labs first rather than "keeping slinging mud at others".

The statement said any Phase II origins study must be a comprehensive extension of Phase I and conducted in multiple places and countries to find out the truth.

The Chinese embassy also told the US side that "continuing such an effort will also be in vain, because its subject is simply non-existent and anti-science".