China says it’s been ‘open and transparent’ on COVID origins

BEIJING (AP) — China is pushing back at renewed suggestions the COVID-19 pandemic could have been the result of a lab leak, saying it has been “open and transparent” in the search for the virus’ origins. The U.S. Department of Energy has assessed with “low confidence” that the pandemic that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019 began with the leak of a virus from a lab. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson in Beijing told reporters Tuesday that China has shared the most data and research results on virus tracing and made important contributions to global virus tracing research. She accused the U.S. of politicizing the issue, saying it won’t smear China but will only damage U.S. credibility.