BEIJING (BLOOMBERG, XINHUA) – A senior Chinese health official rejected a United States report blaming China for stonewalling an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.

China opposes the politicisation of tracing the origins of the virus or using the subject as a tool to shift blame, according to Mr Zeng Yixin, vice-head of the National Health Commission.

The US should treat origins tracing as a scientific matter and support scientists in various countries who are seeking answers on how the virus started, Mr Zeng said in a statement posted on the commission’s WeChat account.

He reiterated that the Chinese government fully supports virus-tracing work based on open, transparent, scientific and cooperative principles.

Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu voiced the same opposition to the US report on Saturday (Aug 28).

“It is a mendacious report made up for political purposes. There is no scientific basis or credibility in it,” he said.

Mr Ma reiterated China’s stance that origins tracing of Covid-19 is a complex issue of science which should and can only be undertaken by scientists around the world through joint research.

More than 300 political parties, social organisations and think tanks from more than 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the World Health Organisation Secretariat on opposing the politicisation of origins tracing, Mr Ma said.

He added that more than 25 million Chinese netizens have signed an open letter asking for an inquiry into the Fort Detrick base. The US has been refusing to respond to the international community’s reasonable doubts on the Fort Detrick bio-lab and the more than 200 overseas bases for biological experiments, Mr Ma said.

“The onus is on the United States to give the world an answer,” he added.

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