China on Wednesday reiterated its claim that COVID-19 may have originated in the United States, releasing a white paper on its pandemic response just hours after the Trump administration again pointed to a lab leak in China as the cause of the outbreak.
The White House published a new COVID-19 website on April 18 asserting the virus came from a Chinese lab, while also criticizing Joe Biden, former U.S. health official Anthony Fauci, and the World Health Organization for their handling of the pandemic.
In its white paper, released through the state-run Xinhua news agency, China accused the U.S. of politicizing the search for the virus’s origins. It referenced a Missouri court ruling that ordered China to pay $24 billion in damages for allegedly hoarding protective equipment and covering up the initial outbreak.
China said it had shared relevant information with the WHO and the global community in a timely fashion, and cited the joint WHO-China study that concluded a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.”
The U.S. should not continue to “pretend to be deaf and dumb”, but should respond to the legitimate concerns of the international community, the white paper said. It claimed that “substantial evidence” suggested COVID-19 may have emerged in the U.S. earlier than officially reported and before it surfaced in China.
Xinhua also cited a Chinese National Health Commission official saying the next phase of origin-tracing should focus on the U.S.
In January, the CIA reported that a lab origin in China was more likely than a natural one, but acknowledged that both scenarios remained plausible.
