Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are pressing for transparency of the origins of the COVID-19 virus after it was reported by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the Department of Energy confirmed the lab leak theory with “low confidence.”
China-U.S. relations remain tense, as in late January, a Chinese spy balloon was discovered flying over U.S. territory. In addition, Beijing has denied talks of arming Russia amid its questioned stance in the conflict in Ukraine.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, “There are some elements within the intelligence community that have reached conclusions on one side. There are others that have reached conclusions on the other. There are a number of intelligence community agencies that have put forward an assessment that essentially makes clear they don’t have enough information to conclude one way or another.”
The White House would not comment on the authenticity of the Journal’s report, saying there is no government consensus, although it has been ruled out that the virus was rooted in biological weapons research.
According to a 2021 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, both the lab leak and naturally occurring theory are plausible. At least nine of the 19 U.S. intelligence offices are cited within the report, according to The Hill.
Price has slammed Beijing for obstructing international proceedings into the virus’s origins, more specifically for the government’s withholding of data in a report published in March 2021 by the World Health Organization.
“Unfortunately, the PRC has been blocking from the very beginning, the ability of international investigators and members of the global health community from assessing the information that they would need to form their own conclusions to come to their own judgments,” said Price.
In response to the criticism drawn by the west and the Journal’s report, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said, “certain parties should stop rehashing the ‘lab leak’ narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing.”