Pompeo does not have any evidence about COVID-19 lab leak: China
07 May, 2020
China hit back Wednesday (May 6) at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his claims that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, saying he "does not have any" evidence.
Washington and Beijing have clashed repeatedly over the virus, which emerged in China late last year but has since spiralled into a global pandemic.
Conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab in Wuhan have swirled since earlier this year, but were brought in to the mainstream last month by US government officials.
Pompeo said on Sunday that there was "enormous evidence" showing that the new coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.
"I believe this matter should be handed to scientists and doctors, and not politicians who lie for his or her own domestic political ends," said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a normal press briefing.
"Mr Pompeo repeatedly spoke up but he cannot present any evidence. How can he? Because he does not have any," she said.
Most scientists believe the brand new virus jumped from animals to humans, with suspicion around market in Wuhan that sold wildlife for meat.
US President Donald Trump has been increasingly critical of China's management of the outbreak, saying the other day he had seen evidence linking the virus to the Wuhan lab and threatening new trade tariffs against Beijing.
The United States is the worst-hit country on the planet, with an increase of than 70,000 deaths.
Beijing has accused the united states of trying to divert attention from its domestic handling of the outbreak.
"We urge the united states to avoid ... shifting the focus to China," Hua said.
"It will handle its domestic affairs properly first. The most important thing now is to regulate the US' domestic pandemic spread and think about ways to save lives."
VIRUS TENSIONS
The World Health Organization has said US claims about the foundation of the virus were "speculative".
The top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci has echoed the WHO's statement, telling National Geographic that evidence up to now "strongly indicates" an all natural origin.
But countries including the United States and Australia have called for an investigation into the way the disease transformed into a global pandemic.
Officially, China's toll for the virus is 4,633 - but several countries have cast doubt on whether the numbers are accurate.
China and the united states had only recently soothed monetary tensions, with the signing of a "phase one" trade deal in January.
But since then the world's two biggest economies have already been exchanging insults and accusations.
Trump and his administration angered Beijing by repeatedly referring to "the Chinese virus" when discussing the COVID-19 outbreak.
A foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing later suggested it may have been the united states military which brought the virus to Wuhan, and China has sought to distance itself from the virus.
Hua said on Wednesday that there have been "many studies" suggesting that there have been coronavirus cases discovered in the US or France this past year, and said that suggests the "sources (of the virus) are extremely diverse."
Trump has repeatedly attacked China's insufficient transparency and the alleged slowness of its initial response to the outbreak.
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