China on Sunday rejected the US intelligence investigation released Friday into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it “political and false,” and called on Washington to “stop attacking” Beijing.
“No matter how many times this report is published and how many versions are invented, it cannot completely change the political and false nature” of its conclusions, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
China has previously expressed strong opposition to the initial findings released in the final report in late August, the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry called on the United States to “end attacks on China and defamation.”
The document, released on Friday, is a new version of a top-secret report presented at the end of August to the US president, which gave intelligence agencies 90 days to “redouble their efforts” to explain the origin of the pandemic.
The report noted that without new information, intelligence agencies could not conclude whether the virus originated through animal transmission or laboratory leakage, adding that China’s cooperation would likely be required to finalize the origin of the virus.
At the same time, it is emphasized that Beijing continues to “obstruct the global investigation.”
