WASHINGTON: The Chinese embassy in the United States on Wednesday (local time) said politicising the origins of COVID-19 would hamper investigations and affect global efforts to deal with the pandemic.
"Lately, some people have played the old trick of political hype on the origin tracing of COVID-19 in the world. Smear campaign and blame-shifting are making a comeback, and the conspiracy theory of "lab leak" is resurfacing," said the embassy in a statement.
"Since the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, some political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and blame game, while ignoring their people's urgent need to fight the pandemic and the international demand for cooperation on this front, which has caused a tragic loss of many lives. The lesson from last year is still fresh in our memory. While the pandemic is still causing great damage in today's world and the international community is expecting greater coordination among countries, some people are turning to their old playbook," said the spokesperson for the embassy in a statement.
The virus was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan and since then China has been chided for its lack of transparency. In the absence of any evidence, several theories for the origin of the virus have been put forward.
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Among them, a few possibilities, such as the theory which said that the virus originated in nature, have received more traction than others.
Meanwhile, other theories raised questions on China's intentions and handling of the dangerous virus. These include possibilities of an accidental leak of the Covid-19 virus from a Wuhan lab and Beijing deliberately manufacturing the virus as a bioweapon.
"On the origin tracing of COVID-19, we have been calling for international cooperation on the basis of respecting facts and science, with a view to better coping with unexpected epidemics in the future. To politicize origin tracing, a matter of science, will not only make it hard to find the origin of the virus, but give free rein to the "political virus" and seriously hamper international cooperation on the pandemic," said the embassy in the statement.
"Out of a sense of responsibility towards the health of mankind, we support 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. Such study and investigation shall be full, transparent and evidence-based, and shall get to the bottom to make everything clear," added the statement.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) said he has asked the US intelligence community to "redouble their efforts" to come to a conclusion on the origins of COVID-19 and report back to him within 90 days.