China has reopened the controversial debate over the origins of COVID-19, releasing a white paper that accuses the United States of politicizing the pandemic and hints the virus may have surfaced in America before it was identified in Wuhan.
Published Wednesday by state-run Xinhua news agency, the white paper is a direct response to renewed U.S. accusations, according to Reuters. On April 18, the U.S. government launched an official COVID-19 website reiterating the theory that the virus originated from a Chinese laboratory. The site also criticized former President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the World Health Organization for allegedly failing to hold China accountable.
China’s white paper pushes back firmly, referencing a lawsuit filed in Missouri that led to a symbolic $24 billion ruling against China, accusing it of stockpiling personal protective equipment and suppressing early outbreak information. Beijing dismissed the verdict as politically driven and legally baseless.
“Substantial evidence suggests COVID-19 may have emerged in the United States earlier than officially acknowledged—and even before the outbreak in China,” the document claims, urging an international investigation into early U.S. cases.
Beijing also reiterated that it shared relevant data with the WHO and other countries in a timely and transparent manner, emphasizing a joint WHO-China report that concluded a lab-origin scenario was “extremely unlikely.”
“The U.S. should stop pretending to be deaf and dumb,” the white paper states, calling on Washington to engage with global concerns instead of shifting blame.
Earlier this year, the CIA indicated it leaned slightly toward the lab-leak theory over natural origins but admitted having “low confidence” in its assessment, acknowledging both theories remain plausible.
A Chinese National Health Commission official added that future investigations into the virus’s origin should now focus on the United States.
With both nations entrenched in their positions, the origin of COVID-19 remains a deeply divisive and unresolved geopolitical issue.
