The Chinese government should make available scientists and military officials to testify about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic chair has requested, The Hill reported on Monday.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, sent a letter to China's ambassador to the U.S., Qin Gang, criticizing the Chinese embassy for trying to "interfere" in the committee's probe about the origins of the pandemic.
Wenstrup was referring to a message sent April 14 by Li Xiang, a counselor with China's embassy, to committee members that expressed Beijing's opposition to a House hearing that concentrated on the intelligence community's efforts to discover the origins of COVID-19.
There has also been other complaints sent by China to House lawmakers recently. Wenstrup stated in his letter that Beijing's "interference is unacceptable and will not impede the Select Subcommittee's efforts. We encourage you to cease and, instead, cooperate with the numerous international investigations into the origins of COVID-19."
The committee chair also insisted that "continued stonewalling by China will not only harm the globe's ability to predict, prepare, protect and prevent the next pandemic but will also — as your staff so eloquently said — fail to promote 'international solidarity.'"
Chinese officials have rejected the idea that the pandemic, which was first identified in late 2019 in Wuhan, could have leaked from a laboratory studying coronavirus diseases in the city, according to The Hill.
But in a declassified assessment made public in 2021 the U.S. intelligence community said that agencies view two hypotheses as plausible — that the virus originated as a laboratory-associated incident or natural exposure to an infected animal.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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