China went on the offensive ahead of the release of a U.S. intelligence report on the origins of the coronavirus, bringing out a senior official to accuse the United States of politicizing the issue by seeking to pin the blame on China.
Fu Cong, a director general in the Foreign Ministry, said at a briefing for foreign journalists that scapegoating China cannot whitewash the United States.
China, the U.S, and the World Health Organization are entangled in a feud that centers on whether the virus that causes COVID-19 could have leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected in late 2019.
The international scientists dispatched to China by WHO to look for the origins of the coronavirus say the search has “stalled” and warn the window for getting to the bottom of the mystery is closing fast.
In a commentary published Wednesday, the experts say the origins investigation is at “a critical juncture” requiring urgent collaboration.
Increasing numbers of American scientists have called for two Chinese labs to be investigated, a request China has dismissed as “scapegoating.”