FM rails against COVID-19 'political virus'

US blaming others for failures harms research efforts, state councilor says

State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi has stressed the need to look into the origin of the "political virus" while tracing that of the coronavirus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, reiterating that efforts to trace the origins of the coronavirus should not be politically manipulated.

Wang made the remarks at a joint news conference with Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in Chengdu on Sunday.

The United States has, from the very beginning, attempted to politicize the pandemic, stigmatize the virus and use origin tracing as a tool to practice political manipulation, Wang said.

The US neglects scientists' painstaking efforts, resorts to intelligence means for the purpose of so-called origin-tracing, and keeps hyping the "lab leak" theory, he said.

Washington's purpose is very clear, Wang said: it wants to blame others for its inability to curb COVID-19 while realizing its political purpose of smearing and suppressing other countries. It is necessary to put such an "ugly page" into the historical record of humankind's fight against the pandemic, he said.

It seems that since the US returned to the World Health Organization it has not focused on joining the international fight against the pandemic, but has continued to use the platform to spread the political virus, Wang said.

He reaffirmed that China cannot accept the WHO's plan for a second phase of a study into the origin of the virus, saying such a plan has shocked many scientists.

It deviates from the resolution of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly and neglects the conclusions and proposals of the joint WHO-China investigation report, he said.

A joint WHO-China investigation mission conducted earlier this year concluded that transmission of the virus to humans through an intermediate animal was the likely cause and that a laboratory leak was "extremely unlikely" to have been the cause.

Truth instead of lies

If a work plan does not truly aim to look into the origin of the virus, but attempts to discredit China, the country, as an independent sovereign state will not, and cannot, accept it, Wang said, adding that about 60 countries have written to the WHO to express their opposition to politicizing efforts to find the origins of the virus.

He reiterated that in terms of such work countries should seek to work with one another instead of discrediting others, and that there should be truth instead of lies and respect for science rather than political manipulation.

China is ready to uphold the spirit of openness, transparency, science and collaboration, and to continue to support and take part in virus origin tracing efforts worldwide, he said.