Stop 'demonising' China: Beijing urges the US as envoy visits
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On July 22, China's National Health Commission rejected the WHO plan for a second phase of the investigation. Later, the US had expressed disappointment with the decision and termed it "dangerous".
During Monday's talks with US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the highest-ranking Biden administration envoy to visit China, China urged the US to stop "demonising" it.
"The hope may be that by demonising China, the US could somehow... blame China for its structural problems," China's foreign ministry said in a statement, adding the relationship between the nations is in a "stalemate and faces serious difficulties."
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On July 22, China's National Health Commission rejected the WHO plan for a second phase of the investigation. Later, the US had expressed disappointment with the decision and termed it "dangerous".
Leading infectious disease scientists in the United States are warning that China's rejection of a World Health Organization plan for a new Covid-19 probe inside the country risks losing the rest of the world of crucial data required to detect and prevent future pandemics.
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China has also refused to reveal information about hospital admissions, claiming that doing so would violate individual privacy.
The lab-leak scenario has acquired a lot of popularity recently, prompting US President Joe Biden to assign the American intelligence team a 90-day deadline to figure out where the virus came from.
(With inputs from agencies)