Politicising Covid-19 origin tracing will lead nowhere: Chinese envoy
For representational purpose
Tehran: Tracing the origin of Covid-19, a complex issue of science, "should and can only be undertaken by scientists around the world through joint research", the Chinese ambassador to Iran wrote in an opinion piece published recently, warning against Washington's efforts to politicize this process.
The reaction from the Chinese ambassador came in the backdrop of a report by the US intelligence community (IC) on the origins of Covid-19.
The IC had issued a two-page, unclassified assessment of its efforts, offering "key takeaways" after "examining all available intelligence reporting and other information".
"Essentially, it is a completely mendacious report made up for political purposes and there is no scientific basis or credibility in it, which does no good for the international anti-pandemic efforts," Xinhua news agency quoted Chang as saying in the article.
Calling a report jointly released by Chinese and WHO experts earlier this year as "a good foundation for international cooperation on origins tracing," the ambassador said that China has "been supporting science-based efforts on origins tracing, and will continue to stay actively engaged."
Meanwhile, "we firmly oppose attempts to politicize this issue," he added.
In the article, he also criticized the US for "not being transparent, responsible and cooperative on this issue," saying it "hypes up the lab-leak theory while shying away from tracing the origin at home."
Noting that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi underscored recently his staunch opposition to using the issue of Covid-19 origin tracing as a pretext to suppress and contain China, Chang said, "the Chinese side appreciates the just position of the Iranian side."
China will continue to work with friendly countries including Iran and the international community to resist the setbacks of politicising origin tracing and bring it back to the right track of scientific cooperation, making contributions to the final victory against the pandemic, he added.