Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday refuted the COVID-19 origin-tracing issue hyped up by US Ambassador to China, warning that politicizing the issue will not smear China, but will only undermine its own credibility. 

Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, said on Monday that China must be more honest with the origins of COVID-19 and urged China to take a more active role in the World Health Organization (WHO) after the US Energy Department concluded that the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning refuted the accusation on Tuesday, saying that China has always been open and transparent on sharing relevant information and data with the international community in a timely manner in terms of the origin-tracing of COVID-19. 

China is the only country that has repeatedly invited the WHO team of international experts to cooperate in the tracing of the origins of COVID-19 and China shares the most data and research findings on origin-tracing work, making important contributions to the global research of origin-tracing work, Mao said. 

The US is the one who should respond to the questions and concerns from the international community about its Fort Detrick and military biological labs around the world, Mao said, noting that politicizing the issue will not smear China, but will only undermine its own credibility.

Mao said that Burns, as US ambassador to China, should do more to improve China-US relations and enhance understanding between the two peoples, rather than do the opposite. 

Global Times