China judges US investigation into Covid-19 origins “political and false” – franceinfo

New pass of arms between Beijing and Washington. China protests Sunday October 31 against an investigation by the American intelligence services published on Friday into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling it “political and false”, while urging Washington to “stop attacking” China. “No matter how many times this report is published and how many versions concocted, it cannot change the entirely political and false nature of this report.”said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

China had already expressed its strong opposition to the initial findings published in the synthesis report at the end of August, the ministry added. The fact that intelligence agencies were wiretapped as part of the origin-tracing efforts is, according to Beijing, a “irrefutable proof” politicization of the issue and urges the United States to “stop attacking and sullying China”.

The document released on Friday was a new version of the confidential report handed to the US president at the end of August, who had given intelligence services 90 days to “redouble efforts” in order to explain the origin of the pandemic. He said without new information, intelligence agencies would not be able to judge whether the virus appeared through zootransmission or through a laboratory leak. He adds that China’s cooperation will likely be necessary to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of the virus, while stressing that Beijing continues to “hinder the global investigation”.

According to theory “from the laboratory leak”, the virus is believed to have spread from a research center in Wuhan, the city where the contagion was first reported. This theory is still unsubstantiated and China has repeatedly rejected it. Beijing has been urged to consider a new investigation into the origins of the pandemic after the delayed and highly politicized visit by a team of international experts from the World Health Organization, which failed to determine how the virus had appeared. But Chinese officials resisted the demands, saying they were politically motivated.