China says 'probe Covid's origin in US now' after Biden govt glosses over WHO's report

Editor-in-Chief of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) run tabloid Global Times, Hu Xijin on Wednesday lashed out at the US over its decision to scrutinize WHO report that ruled out at COVID-19 originated from Chinese lab. Sharing a snip of a media report, the Chinese stooge wrote on Twitter, "US to scrutinize WHO report? Or is it that WHO to scrutinize the US data? Are we heard it wrong, or Washington is just muddy-headed but hegemonic?"

'US to scrutinize WHO report?'

China calls on the US to invite WHO experts

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called on Washington to hold an open, transparent, and scientific attitude and invite experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) to conduct studies on the origins of the novel Coronavirus in the United States. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the ministry, made the remarks after America said it would not accept the WHO-China Mission's findings in Wuhan without independently verifying the findings using its own intelligence.

"We hope that following China's example, the US side will act in a positive, science-based and cooperative manner on the origin-tracing issue, invite WHO experts in for an origin-tracing study," he said while addressing a press briefing. 

Wang said various researches have indicated that the Coronavirus had surfaced in different locations around the world in the second half of 2019. Virus tracing is a complex scientific issue and should be conducted by global scientists, he stressed, according to a CGTN report.

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Wang quoted Liang Wannian, leader of the Chinese side of the China-WHO joint team in Wuhan, as saying that the China-WHO Joint Mission concluded the China-part of the global tracing of the Coronavirus. "With the accumulation of factual evidence and the development of a scientific hypothesis, the location for virus tracing will also change," Wang said.

Biden speaks to Xi Jinping

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden expressed his "fundamental concerns" about China's coercive and unfair economic practices, its crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and increasingly assertive actions in the region, as he spoke with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time since taking office.

The phone call between the two leaders came hours after the Pentagon announced a task force on China. This was the first phone call between the two leaders after Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on January 20.

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