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In a bold counter-narrative, China has claimed that the United States—not China—is responsible for the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, reigniting global debate over how and where the virus first emerged.
On Wednesday, Beijing released a white paper through its State Council Information Office, arguing that the virus which killed over 1.2 million Americans and at least 7 million people worldwide may have actually originated in the U.S., not Wuhan.
The report appears to be a direct response to renewed criticism from the Trump campaign, which continues to assert that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), a facility known for conducting research on coronaviruses.
In the white paper, Chinese officials sharply criticized the U.S. government for what they described as an attempt to politicize the origins of SARS-CoV-2. “The U.S. government, instead of acknowledging its failures in handling the pandemic, has shamelessly shifted blame by politicizing virus origin tracing,” the report stated.
Beijing has called for a full investigation into the possibility that the virus originated on American soil, urging Washington to provide transparent answers to the international community.
“The U.S. should respond to legitimate global concerns and offer a responsible explanation,” the report continued. “There is substantial evidence suggesting that COVID-19 may have appeared in the U.S. earlier than officially acknowledged—and even earlier than the outbreak in China.”
While the scientific consensus still leans toward the theory that the virus jumped from animals to humans, likely through a natural spillover event, the Chinese government is pushing an alternative view. It pointed to respiratory illness outbreaks in the U.S. between May and October 2019, which it claims could have been early, undiagnosed cases of COVID-19.
The white paper also cited a CDC study in which 106 out of 7,389 blood samples collected from nine U.S. states between December 2019 and January 2020 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies—suggesting the virus may have been present in the U.S. before its first confirmed case.
The timing of the report is notable. It follows the launch of a new U.S. government COVID-19 website earlier this month, where officials reiterated claims that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab. That messaging also included criticisms of both President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci for their handling of the pandemic.
China’s report accused the U.S. of downplaying the virus early on. “In January 2020, the U.S. was aware of a rapidly spreading novel coronavirus but chose to minimize the threat,” it claimed. “On multiple occasions, U.S. officials compared COVID-19 to the flu, falsely suggesting it would disappear on its own.”
Beijing concluded by accusing the U.S. of using China as a scapegoat to deflect attention from its own “indifference and delayed response,” which it says squandered the crucial early advantage that China’s containment efforts had secured for the world.
