In a newly released white paper, China’s State Council Information Office has claimed that the United States, not China, is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. This document, published on Wednesday, suggests that the virus that led to over 1.2 million deaths in the U.S. and millions more worldwide might have originated within the U.S. itself. The paper appears to be a direct response to ongoing accusations, particularly from the Trump campaign, which has previously asserted that the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab engaged in coronavirus research at the time.
The Chinese government has criticized the U.S. for deflecting responsibility. According to the white paper, the U.S. has failed to address its own shortcomings in handling the pandemic and instead attempted to shift blame by politicizing the investigation into the virus’s origins. The report urges the U.S. to conduct a thorough investigation into the virus’s beginnings and address the concerns of the global community.
The white paper also claims that substantial evidence suggests COVID-19 may have surfaced in the U.S. earlier than officially recognized, potentially before the outbreak in China. Chinese officials argue that the U.S. government downplayed the virus’s severity in its early stages, comparing it to the flu and even suggesting it would disappear on its own. They also accuse the U.S. of using China as a scapegoat for its pandemic management failures, wasting valuable time in the global effort to combat the virus.
Adding further fuel to the controversy, the Chinese government points to respiratory disease outbreaks in the U.S. from May to October 2019, suggesting these might have been early cases of COVID-19, despite no conclusive lab tests confirming this. The white paper also references a U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) study that found SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in blood samples collected in late 2019, implying that the virus was circulating in the U.S. prior to the official identification of the first case.
This development comes amid ongoing tensions over the virus’s origins, as the U.S. government continues to question the role of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. With each side standing firm in its accusations, the debate over the pandemic’s beginnings shows no sign of abating anytime soon.
