Beijing said on Wednesday that the FBI was undermining its credibility after its director said that a laboratory accident in the Chinese city of Wuhan was "very likely" at the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Christopher Wray's statements to Fox News on Tuesday came two days after a US department put forward a similar position.
The FBI "brings out this theory of a laboratory leak, which is in no way able to discredit China, but only further undermines its own credibility", reacted Mao Ning, a spokeswoman. from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Given the lies, the deceptions and the countless misdeeds committed by the American intelligence services, their conclusions have absolutely no credibility,” she stressed during a regular press briefing.
Christopher Wray's comments followed a similar announcement by the US Department of Energy.
New intelligence would have tilted the department's analysis on the side of the leak hypothesis, according to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and CNN.
The newspapers insist, however, that this new analysis is published "with a low level of confidence" by the ministry, which oversees biology laboratories.
The US intelligence world is now even more divided, with some believing that Covid arose through natural transmission.
In the interview, Christopher Wray also accused China of trying to block the US-led investigation into the causes of the pandemic that erupted in early 2020, killing nearly 7 million people and disrupting the march of the world. world for months.
"The Chinese government (...) has done its best to try to thwart and confuse the work that we are doing, the work that our American government and our close foreign partners" are doing, he said. assured.
"And that's unfortunate for everyone."
Beijing vigorously disputes these claims.
During Wednesday's press briefing, spokesperson Mao Ning reiterated the idea that the World Health Organization (WHO) should also look into American laboratories, in particular that of Fort Detrick, at the heart of the research. US against bioterrorism.
"The United States should respect science and facts, promptly cooperate with the WHO, invite international experts to conduct research on the origin of the virus, and share research findings with the international community," he said. she declared.
For the scientific community, it is crucial to determine the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, in order to better prevent and combat a next epidemic wave.
01/03/2023 16:56:14 - Beijing (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
