The country’s embassy in the UK said that since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has maintained close ties and cooperation with the WHO in researching the origin of the virus
China strongly opposes the attempts by some countries to politicize the pandemic, seek blame for the origin of the coronavirus, and denigrate and shame China. This was said in a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in the UK on Wednesday.
“China stands firmly against attempts by some countries to politicise the pandemic, play the blame game [for the origin of COVID-19], and shame and label China”, – the embassy said in a statement published on its official website. – “We hope that countries around the world will take a fair, objective and responsible stance, take concrete action in support of the work of the World Health Organization (WHO) and contribute appropriately to international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic”, – the document said.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China has maintained close, open and transparent communication and cooperation with the WHO on the research into the origin of the virus, the embassy said. The WHO experts’ study in China was part of a global study on the origin of the coronavirus organised by the world body, the document said. “The Chinese government provided strong support and assistance to this study, which was highly commended by WHO and international experts, including those from the UK,” the statement said.
The statement pointed out that research into the origin of the coronavirus is a complex scientific task involving many countries and regions of the world and should be carried out jointly by scientists from around the world.
“We must not allow politics to trump science or substitute scientific research with unfounded assumptions and deliberate distortions,” the embassy statement said.
Jake Sullivan, the US assistant to the president for national security, said on Saturday that the United States insisted that China provide data on the spread of the coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak. He said US authorities were concerned about “the manner in which the data” from the WHO investigation in Wuhan was presented, and had questions about “how it was obtained”. Washington has demanded an “independent report” that is “based on the findings of experts and free from interference from the Chinese authorities”.
As Reuters reported on Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he shared US concerns about the level of access by the WHO mission in Wuhan to the data from the coronavirus origin investigation.