China says it has been 'open and transparent' on COVID origin tracing

Chinese officials said that they have been “open and transparent” on questions related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic as the Biden administration has pressed Beijing on the matter. 

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to a question about recent comments made by U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns. 

Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event, Burns said that China has to be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that it was necessary to push China to have a more active role in the World Health Organization (WHO).

“On the origins-tracing of SARS-CoV-2, China has been open and transparent, and shared information and data on COVID-19 with the international community in a timely manner,” Mao said at the press briefing, adding that China is the only country that has invited more than one WHO expert group to conduct joint studies on the topic.

“China has shared more data and research findings on SARS-CoV-2 origins study than any other country, making important contribution to global origins-tracing," Mao said.

She also said that the U.S. needs to respond to “questions and concerns over Fort Detrick and its military and biological labs across the world.” 

“By politicizing the issue, the US will not succeed in discrediting China. Instead, it will only hurt the US’s own credibility,” Mao added. “As US ambassador to China, Mr. Burns needs to do more to help improve China-US relations and promote mutual understanding between the two peoples, rather than the opposite.” 

Mao's remarks come as State Department spokesperson Ned Price said President Biden and his senior officials have pressed China to provide more information on COVID-19 origins and allow international investigations to take place unimpeded as part of efforts to determine where the virus originated. 

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both reported over the weekend that the Energy Department had determined with “low confidence” that a lab leak was behind the eventual outbreak and pandemic, citing new intelligence in its report. 

China has dismissed the U.S. agency's findings, with Mao saying at a Monday press briefing that “certain parties should stop rehashing the ‘lab leak’ narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing.”