On Friday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged the U.S. to disclose information about its bio-labs at Fort Detrick and immediately stop political manipulation on the origins-tracing of SARS-CoV-2.
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"China's position on this issue is consistent. China has supported and participated in global science-based COVID origins-tracing since day one, and has been firmly opposed to all forms of political manipulation," Mao said.
Since COVID-19 hit, the Chinese side has twice received World Health Organization (WHO) experts for origins-tracing cooperation, which produced a scientific and authoritative joint report and laid a solid foundation for global origins-tracing.
After the WHO established the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins on Novel Pathogens (SAGO), China recommended experts to join the group and organized events for Chinese experts to share research findings with the WHO Secretariat and SAGO.
"Recently Chinese scientists have shared more data of the early samples of the disease with the rest of the world," Mao said, adding that China has shared more data and research findings than any other country and made the most contribution to the origins study.
"Doubts have been raised... regarding the accident in and shutdown of the U.S. bio-lab at Fort Detrick," she pointed out, adding that the outbreak of a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause in the U.S. in 2019, and the possibility that the first COVID-19 case in the United States preceded the officially announced date based on many reports.
So far, however, the U.S. has taken no responsible step for origins-tracing. It has never invited WHO expert groups for joint study in the U.S. or shared any early data.
It has ignored the world's concerns about its bio-military bases at Fort Detrick and around the world. And it has not yet responded to the WHO request for data sharing, said the Chinese spokesperson.
"We hope WHO will keep its position science-based, objective and impartial, not let politicization get in the way, and carry out origins-tracing in the U.S., among other countries, and play a positive role in global science-based origins-tracing," said Mao.