Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu gave an exclusive interview on August 28 to CMG. In this interview, he denied the credibility of the report released by the United States intelligence services on the origins of COVID-19 and condemned the politicization of the issue of tracing the origins of COVID-19. Here is the full text of the statement.
US intelligence recently compiled an alleged report on the origins of COVID-19. It is a purely false report drawn up for political purposes, which lacks any scientific basis or any credibility. The United States also issued a statement to slander and attack China. The Chinese side expresses its strong opposition to it. Strong representations have been made to the United States.
We have reiterated time and again that identifying the origins of the novel coronavirus is a complex scientific question and that this work should and could only be carried out by scientists around the world through joint research. Nevertheless, in defiance of science and facts, the United States persists in political manipulation and the search for origins by the intelligence services. Without any proof, they persist in weaving lies in order to smear and criticize China. Their aim is to blame China and spread the political virus by making use of the question of identification. The use of intelligence services is in itself indisputable proof of the politicization of the issue.
The United States accuses China of being non-transparent and uncooperative on the issue of identifying the origins of the virus. This is not the reality at all. China attaches great importance and actively participates in global scientific cooperation on researching the origins of the virus. By respecting the principles of scientific rigor, openness and transparency, we have twice invited WHO experts to conduct studies in China. Earlier this year, a joint WHO-China team, made up of prominent international and Chinese experts, undertook a 28-day mission to China and published a joint report that reached professional, scientifically rigorous conclusions. and authoritative. It is a good basis for global cooperation in identifying the origins of the virus. We have always supported the scientific work of identification and will continue to participate actively in it. But we strongly oppose attempts to politicize this issue.
On this issue, it is precisely the United States that is not demonstrating transparency, responsibility or cooperation. Even today, they still refuse to answer the reasonable doubts of the international community around the Fort Detrick Biological Laboratory and more than 200 American biological experiment facilities around the world, and seek to cover up the truth and reject their responsibility. The United States has a responsibility and a duty to give the whole world a response.
Attempts by the United States to politicize the issue of identifying the origins of the virus have received no support and have met with opposition from across the international community. More than 80 countries have written to the WHO Director-General, made statements or sent diplomatic notes to express their objection to politicization practices and to request the preservation of the joint WHO-China team report. Over 300 political parties, social organizations and think tanks from over 100 countries and regions have submitted a joint statement to the WHO Secretariat expressing opposition to the politicization of the issue of identification. More than 25 million Chinese internet users have signed an open letter, demanding an investigation into Fort Detrick in the United States. So many voices calling for justice.
A Chinese saying goes: “A just cause always enjoys broad support, while an unjust cause finds little.” We would like to once again warn the United States that the politicization of identifying the origins of the virus will get nowhere. We urge the United States to immediately cease acts which poison the mood for international cooperation on the search for the origins of the virus and which undermine global solidarity in the face of the epidemic, and to return to the right track, that of tracing. science and cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.
–
