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The Chinese government has asked the United States to explain its role in the spread of the COVID pandemic that claimed millions of lives and caused a global economic downturn.
China made the demand on Tuesday while responding to a new website the White House launched to tell the origins of COVID, which America insists began in a lab leak in China.
The Asian powerhouse said rehashing the “lab leak” theory with unsubstantiated accusations is another ploy the U.S. uses for political manipulation under the pretext of COVID origins-tracing.
Chinese Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the issue as a scientific one, which China has actively supported and participated in for openness and transparency.
Jiakun advised the American government to stop weaponising the origins-tracing of COVID and to stop “playing deaf to the questions concerning its role in the pandemic.”
“The U.S. still owes the international community a serious response to those legitimate concerns, and a responsible explanation to the people of the world,” he said.
Jiakun noted that since the pandemic started, there have been reports about clues being found in multiple locations and countries worldwide regarding the possible origins.
“The U.S. is one of those places. We believe that the international community deserves a clear explanation from the U.S.,” the spokesperson added.
In other news, China has criticised the United States and the Philippines’ annual joint military exercise staged in locations facing the South China Sea and the island of Taiwan.
Thousands of troops are participating in the “Balikatan” drill which began on Monday and, for the first time, includes an integrated air and missile defence simulation.
US anti-ship missile system launchers and the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System, NMESIS, were deployed to Luzon, the Philippines’ largest island, for the exercise running through to 9 May.
