WASHINGTON: China must be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US ambassador to China said on Monday (Feb 27), after reports that the US Energy Department concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak. Nicholas Burns, speaking by video link at a US Chamber of Com
WASHINGTON: China must be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US ambassador to China said on Monday , after reports that the US Energy Department concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak.
China also needed to"be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis," Burns said, referring to the central Chinese city where the first human cases were reported in December 2019.
"Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the origins-tracing issue," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.Burns told the Chamber event that it was a difficult moment for US-China relations, with Beijing seeking to deflect blame after the US military this month downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon that drifted across the continental United States.
"It's a little bit Orwellian. And it's a little bit frustrating, because I think everybody knows the truth here."
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