China slams US probe into COVID origins; compares it with 'lie that started Iraq war'

With the US mounting pressure on China seeking a probe into the COVID-19 lab leak theory, China's ambassador to France on Thursday hit out at the Biden administration for 'milking washing powder lie that helped it start the Iraq War.' In an interview with French newspaper L’Opinion, Ambassador Lu Shaye claimed that Washington was initiating a 'modus operandi' against China similar to the one that it had used to wage war against Iraq in 2003 by peddling the virus lab leak theory.

"The same process is being repeated ... of imposing an accusation based on the presumption of guilt, then applying pressure by instrumentalizing and misleading public opinion,” he said. Responding to Biden's order to its intelligence groups to investigate the lab leak theory, he said, "This is no scientific research at all."

China seeks investigation into US Fort Detrick lab

In turn, Ambassador Lu Shaye asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) to prioritize the US’ Fort Detrick lab in next-stage investigations of the virus origins. Claiming that the US was picturing scenarios of lab leak accidents to open the door of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Chinese ambassador stated that all these accusations were based on the lab leak accident of the US lab at Fort Detrick which needed to be investigated in turn.

"But Western media has never reported on the US lab. China, the country that first reported the epidemic, has managed to keep the virus under control within two months In sharp contrast, the pandemic is still ravaging the US , a country with the world’s most advanced medical resources," said Lu.

Biden mounts pressure on China

The Ambassador's statements come after US President Joe Biden on Wednesday questioned China's stance on the COVID origin probe, asking whether Beijing was really interested in investigating COVID-19 origins. Furthermore, Biden added that there were “certain things” that China cannot explain to the world unless there were evidence and results. "Look, certain things you don't have to explain to the people of the world, they see the results. Is China really actually trying to get to the bottom of this?" Biden questioned. The Communist country had earlier lashed out at the United States claiming that some forces were 'fixated on political manipulation' of the COVID-19 origins.