China responds to US report endorsing lab leak theory, accuses US of ‘smearing China’
The US Department of Energy and the FBI have endorsed the lab leak theory
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}China accused the U.S. of attempting to smear the country after a Sunday report from the U.S. Department of Energy found that COVID-19 most likely leaked from a lab.
Reporters pressed Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning about the report during a Monday briefing. Mao dismissed the report, however, citing the much-criticized joint WHO-China investigation into the origins of the virus.
"The origins-tracing of SARS-CoV-2 is about science and should not be politicized. China has always supported and participated in global science-based origins-tracing," Mao said Monday. "'A laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely' is a science-based, authoritative conclusion reached by the experts of the WHO-China joint mission after field trips to the lab in Wuhan and in-depth communication with researchers. It was accurately recorded in the mission’s report and has received extensive recognition from the international community."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Certain parties should stop rehashing the "lab leak" narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing," Mao continued.
LANCET CALLS FOR ‘OBJECTIVE, OPEN AND TRANSPARENT’ DEBATE OVER COVID-19 ORIGINS
China denies reports from the U.S. saying COVID-19 most likely leaked from a lab.
China's dismissal comes one day after the U.S. Department of Energy joined the FBI in finding that an accidental lab leak was the most likely source of the COVID-19 outbreak, though it made the assessment with "low confidence."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a statement to Fox News Digital on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Energy Department said, "The Department of Energy continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence professionals in investigating the origins of COVID-19, as the President directed.
ANOTHER US AGENCY ASSESSES COVID-19 ORIGIN LIKELY A CHINESE ‘LAB LEAK’: REPORT
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was asked about the Journal’s report during an appearance on CNN Sunday: "There is a variety of views in the intelligence community. Some elements in the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure," Sullivan said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Sunday triggered a slew of frustrated responses from Republicans, whose questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the lab leak theory were long dismissed as conspiracies.
"Re. China’s lab leak, being proven right doesn’t matter," Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted. "What matters is holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable so this doesn’t happen again."
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., says it is time to hold China accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic. (Tasos Katopodis/Pool via AP)
China has repeatedly denied reports that COVID-19 may have leaked from a research lab in Wuhan.
Both the Washington Post and the New York Times had accused Cotton of repeating a "fringe theory" when he mentioned the lab leak possibility back in February 2020. The Post issued a correction to one of its stories more than a year after calling the theory "debunked."
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Republicans are likely to renew focus on COVID-19's origins now that they control the House of Representatives and the committees that come with it.
Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.