China accuses US of politicizing COVID-19 origins research

By KEN MORITSUGU
Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China went on the offensive ahead of the release of a U.S. intelligence report on the origins of the coronavirus, bringing out a senior official to accuse the United States of politicizing the issue by seeking to pin the blame on China. Fu Cong, a director general in the Foreign Ministry, said at a briefing for foreign journalists that scapegoating China cannot whitewash the United States. China, the U.S, and the World Health Organization are entangled in a feud that centers on whether the virus that causes COVID-19 could have leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan, where the disease was first detected in late 2019.