China Sides With Russia In Calling Out Dangerous American Labs In Former Soviet States

The mud-slinging between Washington and Beijing amid the pandemic took a fresh new turn when Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang sided with the accusations put forth by Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova — against the American research laboratories in former Soviet nations.

Shuang expressed his concerns at a regular press briefing Wednesday, April 29, enthusing how the widespread construction of laboratories by the United States in the territory of the former Soviet Union is worrisome. “The local public has been insistently demanding these facilities should be closed down," Shuang said, at the press briefing as reported by the state-backed CGTN news channel. “We do hope that the American side will display a responsible attitude, take into account the official concern of the world community and make real steps to eliminate such fears,” he added.

The accusations came soon after American intelligence agencies and lawmakers began to demand a further probe into the popular theory that traces the origin of COVID-19 to Wuhan Institute of Virology. The assumptions surfaced just a day after the U.S. surpassed China in the number of cases tested positive during the coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency made an implicit assessment about how the novel coronavirus may have been accidentally released from a science lab due to unsafe laboratory practices, close to the Wuhan seafood market.

The classified report, titled "China: Origins of COVID-19 Outbreak Remain Unknown," suggested that the disease could be the by-product of genetic engineering— having been released as a biological weapon.

The assessments were supported by U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Despite there being no clear evidence as yet on this front, the assumptions have been met with strict resistance by Chinese officials and the lab staff.

The coronavirus outbreak currently stands at 3.19 million cases worldwide and broke out in China first before spreading across the West, the U.S., and eventually across the globe. 937K cases were recovered and 228k deaths were reported. While vaccine trials are underway, several countries across the globe continue to grapple under the pandemic’s scare that has given rise to mammoth unemployment and job losses in the recent past.