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 The updated U.S. intelligence briefing, published on Saturday, said
that a natural origin and a lab leak were both plausible hypotheses
to explain how SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, first
infected humans, but that the truth may never be known.
In a response Sunday on the website of China's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Wang said "a lie repeated a thousand times is still a lie",
adding that U.S. intelligence services "have a reputation for fraud
and deception."
"The tracing of the origins of the novel coronavirus is a serious
and complex issue that should and can only be researched through the
cooperation of global scientists," he said.
China has consistently denied allegations that the virus was leaked
from a specialist laboratory in the city of Wuhan, where COVID-19
was first identified at the end of 2019.
Wang also repeated China's calls for the United States to open up
its own laboratory at Fort Detrick to international experts.
A joint study by China and the World Health Organization published
this year all but ruled out the theory that COVID-19 originated in a
laboratory, saying that the most likely hypothesis was that it
infected humans naturally, probably via the wildlife trade.
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 Critics said the study failed
to investigate the Wuhan labs and did not
examine the raw data required to understand the
virus's early transmission routes.
The WHO last month established a new Scientific
Advisory Group on Pandemic Origins (SAGO) and
called on China to supply the raw data to help
any new investigation. China has declined,
citing patient privacy rules.
In an open letter to WHO Director General Tedros
last week, a group of scientists critical of the
organisation said that although they welcomed a
new investigation into COVID-19's origins, the
proposed composition of the SAGO panel lacked
the necessary skills and impartiality.
(Reporting by David Stanway. Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
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