US Claim of COVID Origin Further Erodes Its Credibility - China

On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning asked at a regular briefing not to politicize the issue, warning of U.S. interest in discrediting China.  

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"We urge the U.S. to respect science and facts, stop politicizing the origin tracing of the new coronavirus, stop engaging in political and intelligence-driven tracing, and stop interfering and undermining the solidarity of the international community," the Chinese official said. 

According to Mao, "when intelligence agencies engage in scientific issues, they politicize the issue of source tracing." The official cited Washington's interest in discrediting the Asian country, noting that this "will only further lower its own credibility." 

FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that COVID-19 came from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan in late 2019.  Mao said that such a claim about COVID's origin is "extremely unlikely," and a joint panel of experts from China and WHO that visited the lab's Wuhan facility supported this conclusion.

Last Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Energy assessed with "low confidence" that the COVID-19 pandemic arose from an unintentional leak at a Wuhan lab in late 2019.

According to the Journal, four other federal agencies believe the pandemic was due to natural transmission, while two are undecided.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday this week that Washington has not reached a definitive conclusion or consensus on the origin of the virus, first identified in Wuhan in December 2019. 

Beijing, for its part, has rejected the FBI's claim about the leak as an unfounded rumor and a "political manipulation" of the facts.