Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, seen in September 2017, pushed back against recent U.S. suggestions about the origin of the new coronavirus.
Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/Associated PressBEIJING—China challenged U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to present evidence that would back his recent claim that the new coronavirus came from a Chinese laboratory.
The comment by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying was the first official Chinese government reaction to Mr. Pompeo’s statement. It was the latest effort by Beijing to counter the Trump administration’s moves to blame China for the virus outbreak that has infected more than 3.6 million people world-wide.
On Sunday, Mr. Pompeo said he has seen “enormous evidence” that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan—the Chinese city where the new coronavirus was first identified late last year. He didn’t present the evidence.
“Enormous evidence? Then show us,” Ms. Hua said. “Mr. Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he hasn’t gotten any. I think this matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians,” she told reporters in a daily briefing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he has seen ‘enormous evidence’ that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan lab.
Photo: nicholas kamm/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesU.S.-China ties have worsened in recent months amid the coronavirus pandemic, as the two countries blamed one another for the origin of the coronavirus without presenting proof.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has floated the theory that the coronavirus may have been created by the U.S. Army, which the U.S. has denied.
Mr. Pompeo was referring to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a government-run research center. The institute has drawn scrutiny because of its location and because scientists there study bat coronaviruses.
U.S. intelligence officials last week said they were continuing to examine the origins of the virus to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of a lab accident. China has repeatedly denied any links between the outbreak and any Chinese lab.
Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was quoted Monday by National Geographic as saying that the scientific evidence “is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated.”
In another effort to counter the U.S. suggestion, Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the U.S., said there is an “absurd mind-set of ‘always blame China’ that undercuts global efforts to battle the pandemic.” In an opinion piece for the Washington Post on Tuesday, he added that China shared information with the U.S. at the earliest possible time.
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