US ambassador: China needs to be ‘more honest’ about origins of COVID

The U.S. Ambassador to China on Tuesday said Beijing needs to be “more honest” about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic amid renewed scrutiny over what sparked the outbreak. 

“We are the two largest economies. We are the two most powerful countries in the world. We’ve gotta be able to work with each other,” Nicholas Burns said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce International Security, Trade, and Economic Platform event. 

“And while there may be some disagreements, I think most Americans would say the two largest carbon emitters ought to be working together on climate change,” he continued. “If we’re gonna do something to strengthen the World Health Organization, then we’re gonna have to push China to be more active in it and to, of course, be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the Covid-19 crisis.”

The ambassador’s comments come amid news that the Energy Department has determined with “low confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic came out of a lab leak in China, as opposed to natural transmission or another theory. Beijing has appeared to dismiss the new report.

Burns wasn’t specifically addressing the Energy Department’s new judgment, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, but comes amid renewed discussion on China’s information-sharing when it comes to the global pandemic.

“We have large-scale bipartisan agreement that we ought to be competing with China for military power in the Indo-Pacific,” Burns said. “Competing in the economic and trade sphere for a much more level playing field for American business, because it’s not level right now. We’re certainly competing on technology and, of course, we defend our values. We defend human right.”

He characterized the Chinese government as “very difficult” to deal with in the competitive U.S.-China relationship, and stressed the importance of bipartisan collaboration, since “China will try to divide us at home.”

The new House select committee on U.S.-China competition is set to meet Tuesday.

Burns at the Commerce event also said China’s stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine and the Chinese surveillance balloon shot down by the U.S. military earlier this month are both top national issues the U.S. needs to address.