China has dared US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to show the "enormous evidence" he claimed which proves that coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan. China added he has no such evidence to back up his allegations.
On May 3, Pompeo said that USA has "enormous evidence" showing that coronavirus began in the Wuhan Institute of Virology along with the fact that Beijing has refused to give international scientists access in order to find out what happened.?
"He said 'enormous evidence'. Then show us," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing, as per a PTI report.?
"Pompeo cannot present any evidence because he does not have any," Hua said.?
"This matter should be handled by scientists and professionals instead of politicians out of their domestic political need," she added.?
"On the issue of the origin of coronavirus, people have different opinions. I think tracing the origin is a very serious matter. That should be researched by scientists and professionals," she went on to say.?
"Almost all top scientists, including those in the US, believe that this virus came from nature, not man-made and there is no possibility that it was leaked from a lab. The WHO officials also said all the evidence showed that the virus is not man-made," she said.?
Hua also said all countries must examine the reports that the cases of COVID-19 were reported in some countries in September and December last year.?
She said recent reports said coronavirus cases were reported in the US in October last year. Reports from France spoke of a coronavirus case detected from a patient in December last year, Hua said.?
In the light of this "all countries must re-examine the cases emerged in 2019", she said.?
She also challenged Pompeo to show evidence to prove his charge that the viruses in the past originated from labs in China.?
"Exactly when, where and which lab in China got such failures," she asked and called for an investigation into US' use of bacterial weapons in the past.?
"The US used bacterial weapons in the Korean war and Agent Orange in the Vietnam war. In the recent decade, the US is blocking the protocol regime to the biological weapons convention", she said.?
Noting that the US CDC last year suspended research on pathogens at army lab, she said, "They have been silent on their purposes and safety. So, we hope the US can act in a responsible manner and respond to international calls to accept investigations and respond to concerns."?
The novel coronavirus has so far killed over 2.5 lakh people and infected more than 3.6 million globally.