BEIJING: China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, expressed Beijing’s serious concern to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that some people in the United States were spreading the “absurd story” about the coronavirus escaping from a Wuhan laboratory.
Yang, head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China’s ruling Communist Party, also told Blinken in a phone call on Friday that Washington should handle Taiwan-related issues “carefully and appropriately”, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The call took place at time when the two countries are at odds over issues ranging from trade and technology to human rights and the coronavirus.
Washington should work with Beijing to put ties “back on track,” Yang said.
Yang, who had a fiery exchange with Blinken in Alaska in March during the Biden administration’s first high-level meeting with China, said Beijing firmly opposed what he called “abominable actions” over the pandemic which he said were being used to slander China, CCTV said.
A report on the origins of Covid-19 by a US government national laboratory concluded that the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan is plausible and deserves further investigation, the Wall Street Journal said on Monday.
“We urge the United States to respect facts and science, refrain from politicising the issue…and focus on international cooperation in the fight against the pandemic,” Yang said.
His comments on Taiwan followed a visit to the Chinese-claimed island last weekend by three US senators on a US military aircraft.
They met Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and announced the donation of 750,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses for Taiwan, drawing a sharp rebuke from China’s defence ministry.