China said today that it expects that the review report sought by the US President Joe Biden on the origins of Covid-19 pandemic, which is expected to be submitted by the US intelligence community on Tuesday night, will be based on science and not intelligence.
Facing intense scrutiny over various theories on the origin of the coronavirus, including that it could have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, Biden had on May 26 given a 90-day deadline to submit the report.
"I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days. As part of that report, I have asked for areas of further inquiry that may be required, including specific questions for China," Biden had said in May.
The US President had also reaffirmed that Washington will keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence.
With the deadline ending today, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said he expects an "unclassified version" of the report ready for the public in a few days.
Meanwhile, Beijing said today that it is "for ulterior political purposes" that the US has resorted to its intelligence agencies for the "so-called investigation" of the origins of Covid-19.
"As you all know, in tracing the origins of Covid-19, we need science, not intelligence. Relying on the intelligence community for the origins study is in itself not scientific. The US intelligence community has a poor record in history. It is impossible that it would draft the report based on facts and truth. This report will be nothing but a patchwork of so-called evidence based on predetermined conclusions, with the aim of shifting blames onto others. It is not credible at all," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday.
Urging the Biden adminstration to "stop politicization and return to the track of science-based origins study" at an early date, China also cited certain media reports on the timeline of the Covid-19 outbreak in the US.
"The mayor of Belleville, New Jersey, who has tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, said he was sick with the virus in November 2019, over two months earlier than the first confirmed case in the US and also earlier than the first case reported in China," said Wang Wenbin.
"However, it is baffling that while the US accuses China of lacking transparency in origins research and spreading disinformation, it has been reticent and elusive on the origins study and stonewalling and obstructing relevant work itself," he added.
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