Illustration: Chen Xia/Global Times

Hua Chunying, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Friday condemned US coercion of China's neighboring countries with vaccines to join the COVID-19 origins smear campaign as "immoral, irresponsible and reprehensible," referring to an exclusive report by the Global Times revealing the US trick.

The US has used the provision of COVID-19 vaccines as a means to coerce other countries to join its anti-China alliance, which is immoral, irresponsible and reprehensible, Hua said at a regular press conference on Friday.

When China was overcoming difficulties to produce and provide anti-epidemic supplies to countries in need, the US attempted to buy and monopolize anti-epidemic drugs around the world, Hua said. While China was the first to declare and implement vaccines as a global public good, providing more than 800 million doses of vaccines to the world, the US was engaged in "America First" and "vaccine nationalism,"and let the vaccines sit in storage until they expire, she added.

Vaccines are a powerful weapon against the COVID-19 and a tool for saving lives, and they shouldn't be contaminated with political viruses, Hua said. China urges the US to stop its political manipulation on origins tracing of the virus, and stop smearing international cooperation, she said.

Using vaccine aid, talent training and industrial investment as a bait, the US is stepping up its efforts to coerce China's neighboring countries to participate in its campaign to smear China as the "source of the coronavirus" and to drive a wedge between China and its neighbors so as to contain China's rising influence in Asia-Pacific Region and maintain US' regional dominance, the Global Times quoted a source close to the matteras saying in an exclusive report published on Thursday.

Meanwhile, US senior officials also ordered to keep the virus origins probe away from Europe and Latin America, considering that Europe is a close ally of the US, and Latin America is geographically close to the US and virus origins tracing work in the region may expose US early COVID-19 cases and anti-epidemic loopholes, the source said.

This came as the Joe Biden-set deadline of the 90-day investigation into the virus origins draws close. In order to formulate an investigation report conducted by US intelligence agencies on the virus origins, the US has been piecing together the so-called "evidence" around the world and trying to "convict" China. But the move has made no substantive progress, the source said. 

The source revealed that US high-level officials recently have been targeting China's neighboring countries as its breakthrough point. Considering the short distances with China, the close bilateral relations and frequent personnel exchanges, it is easier for the US to fabricate and piece together epidemic links with China. By doing so, even if the US cannot eventually prove the "lab leak" theory, it can somehow point to China as "the source of the virus."

The attempt is aimed to overturn the WHO-China joint report which concluded that there could be multiple sources of the COVID-19 outbreak. It also aims to drive a wedge between China and neighboring countries, to contain China's growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region and maintain the regional dominance of the US, the source said. 

The US has increased its intimidation of the neighboring countries. The source said it used vaccine aids, cooperation in vaccine technology research, development and transfer, and guarantee of the supply of vaccine raw materials as baits to induce these countries to fully cooperate with the US. 

The US also accessed government and professional databases of relevant countries to obtain large amounts of patients' information by providing skills training, office equipment, or sending technicians, the source said.  

The US was also found to offer explicit price tags such as promoting industrial development and supporting its participation in international and regional affairs, in exchange for the help of relevant countries to stir up the accusation that "China is responsible for and is the source of the virus," according to the source. 

The source also revealed that US high-level officials ordered to push back investigation in Europe and Latin America region, as Europe is a US ally with close links, ignoring the fact that some of these countries found earlier COVID-19 cases. The move shows the US only wants to "take care of the interests of its allies" and focus on the theory of "China is the virus source." Meanwhile, the probe in Latin America, which is adjacent to the US and has a dense population flow, would in turn expose the early cases in US and its epidemic prevention loopholes.

Several sources told the Global Times previously that US intelligence agencies are gearing up their efforts to compile a report, yet are struggling to find concrete proof to support the "lab leak" theory, and even its own research institutions and allies believe the virus was almost certainly not created artificially. 

The US has been pressuring the World Health Organization (WHO) and marshaling its allies, including the EU, Australia, Japan and other countries, to launch the "second-phase origins tracing" on China as soon as possible while trying to bend the will of scientists to churn out materials to chide China.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said it shows the US has launched a "political war" against China. A scientist close to the WHO-China joint expert group previously told the Global Times that the 90-day investigation is a "coordinated political campaign."

Yang Xiyu, a former Chinese diplomat and senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said the intelligence probes fully expose the fact that the US aimed to manufacture some materials to prove China is guilty, and the so-called probes that insult and discriminate against China will not stop.