China Responds To U.S. Energy Department’s Revised Wuhan Lab Leak Theory

China officials said Monday that “certain parties” should stop politicizing the origins of COVID after the U.S. Department of Energy assessed the virus likely leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

During a press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that “origins-tracing” of the virus should be referred back to a March 2021 report published by China and World Health Organization officials, which concluded with an “extremely unlikely” verdict about the lab leak theory.

“Certain parties should stop rehashing the ‘lab leak’ narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing,” Ning said after defending the joint WHO-China report she claimed was received by the international community.