US President Joe Biden slammed China for its lack of transparency in helping trace the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, accusing Beijing of “withholding critical information” on the origin of SARS-CoV-2.
His remarks have come after US intelligence said it does not believe the Covid-19 virus was a bio-weapon.
The United States also doesn’t believe the fact that Chinese officials had foreknowledge of the deadly virus before the outbreak that has claimed more than 4.5 million innocent lives.
“Critical information about the origins of this pandemic exists in the People’s Republic of China, yet from the beginning, government officials in China have worked to prevent international investigators and members of the global public health community from accessing it. To this day, the PRC continues to reject calls for transparency and withhold information, even as the toll of this pandemic continues to rise,” Biden said in a statement.
Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies have ruled out the possibility of coronavirus being a bio-weapon, with most of them assessing with “low confidence” that it was genetically engineered.
However, the global community stays divided on the virus’ origins, with four probe agencies and the US National Intelligence Council voting in favor of a natural exposure to an animal as the only likely explanation, with one favoring the lab leak theory, news agency AFP reported.
“Variations in analytic views largely stem from differences in how agencies weigh intelligence reporting and scientific publications, and intelligence and scientific gaps,” the study summary read.
Biden assured that the US would continue working with allies to corner Beijing into cooperating with the World Health Organization, and sharing more information on the outbreak.
“We must have a full and transparent accounting of this global tragedy. Nothing less is acceptable,” the US President said.
Beijing has, however, rejected demands from the US and other countries for a fresh probe following a ‘heavily politicised’ visit by a WHO team in January that also proved inconclusive.
