BEIJING: China on Thursday said the World Health Organisation had said there was no evidence that the coronavirus that has infected more than 2 million people globally was made in a lab.
Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the remark in response to a question about accusations the coronavirus originated in a lab in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the epidemic first emerged in late 2019.
Zhao told reporters during a daily briefing in Beijing that WHO officials “have said multiple times there is no evidence the new coronavirus was created in a laboratory.”
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his government is trying to determine whether the coronavirus emanated from a lab in Wuhan, China, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Beijing “needs to come clean” on what they know.
Zhao did not directly address Trump’s comments.
A day earlier, Pompeo had urged China’s top diplomat on the need for full transparency and information sharing as Washington ramped up its pressure on Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak.
Tensions have increased again between the world’s top two economies over the global pandemic, which has now infected more than 2 million people, as President Donald Trump has pulled US funding for WHO, accusing it of being “China-centric.”
Pompeo has also said the United Nations organisation had failed to deliver on its promises. He has repeatedly accused Beijing of covering up the scale of the outbreak in the early days and not sharing accurate data.
China insists it has been transparent and has sharply criticised US officials who cast doubt on that. A senior Trump administration official last week said lives could be saved globally if China allowed the United States to work directly with laboratories in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the outbreak began.
On Wednesday, Pompeo conveyed the US position to his counterpart, Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat. “The Secretary stressed the need for full transparency and information sharing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and prevent future outbreaks,” a State Department readout on the call said.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Yang told Pompeo it was crucial for Washington and Beijing to properly manage their relations during the outbreak and that he hoped the United States would meet China halfway, focus on cooperation and help to promote their relationship.
Pompeo also told Yang about the “high importance” Washington attached to China’s facilitation of medical supply exports to meet critical demand in the United States. The United States is heavily reliant on Chinese-produced medical supplies, something that has been highlighted in the current pandemic.
The US-China Business Council trade lobby group said new Chinese rules in response to European criticism of the quality of medical supplies from China had had the unintended consequence of curtailing exports of personal protective equipment US firms procured there.
However, the group’s senior vice president Jake Parker said the Chinese government had moved to address this issue in recent days and “this now seems to be moving in the right direction.”
