Hua, asked about the AP report at a daily Foreign Ministry briefing, said that some people in Western countries, such as the US, don’t want to hear China’s objective and true voice.
Loading
“They are afraid that more people will learn the truth, so that they can no longer spread false information unscrupulously and do whatever they want to mislead and monopolise international public opinion,” she said.
China’s response, though, was to start spreading rumours that the virus had been created by a US military lab and released during an international competition for military athletes in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the new coronavirus was first detected in late 2019.
The search for the origins of the virus has become highly politicised. Trump sought to pin the blame on China, in part to deflect criticism of his administration’s response to the pandemic in the United States.
China, in turn, has played up reports that the virus was circulating outside of the country before the outbreak in Wuhan, suggesting it may have been brought in from elsewhere.
Determining where the virus started is likely to take years of research and may never be known. Most scientists say the most likely scenario is it was first carried by bats in southwest China or neighbouring Southeast Asia, and then spread to another animal before infecting humans.
AP
