In a sharp exchange of words on Monday, January 27, China forcefully rejected the CIA‘s new assessment suggesting COVID-19 likely originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan.
“The conclusion that a laboratory leak is extremely unlikely was reached by the China-WHO joint expert team based on field visits to relevant laboratories in Wuhan,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning declared, emphasizing that this finding “has been widely recognized by the international community and the scientific community.”
The diplomatic tension escalated after the CIA released an unprecedented statement on Saturday indicating it now believes, albeit with “low confidence,” that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more probable than natural transmission.
This new position marks a shift for the agency, which had previously remained neutral on the virus’s origins. The timing of the CIA’s announcement coincides with John Ratcliffe’s recent confirmation as CIA director under Donald Trump’s second administration.
The development adds another layer of complexity to the already contentious debate over COVID-19’s origins.
Beijing responded by calling on Washington to “stop politicizing and instrumentalizing the issue of origin-tracing.”
Mao further urged the U.S. to “stop smearing and shifting the blame to other countries” and address what she termed “legitimate concerns of the international community.”
