White House: China Won't Release Data From Wuhan Lab

China is refusing to release information from the Wuhan lab theorized by some to be tied to the novel coronavirus despite pressure from the Biden administration to do so, reports the Washington Examiner.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday told reporters that an independent investigation needs to happen, ”with the cooperation and data provided from the Chinese government.”

”We don’t have enough information at this point to make an assessment,” she added.

Pressed by reporters on whether President Joe Biden would demand access to the information from Chinese President Xi Jinping, Psaki responded: they “have made that call publicly many times, we have conveyed that privately, and we have certainly communicated that they were not transparent from the beginning.”

She also called China’s refusal to cooperate with an international investigation ”not acceptable.”

“There’s an opportunity now in the next stage of this effort, for them to be transparent, to participate in an international investigation that can bring a conclusion to the origins and provide information that we, Republicans, Democrats, and everyone in this country would love to have access to,” she said.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in late March said further investigation of a likely leak at the Wuhan lab was necessary and ”requires further investigation, potentially with the additional missions involving specialist experts, which I am ready to deploy.”

Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday said there is ”significant circumstantial evidence” that the COVID-19 outbreak stemmed from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and urged the Biden administration to put ”more pressure on China” to allow for a ”full, credible investigation” into the source of the pandemic.

Findings from an Associated Press investigation released in late December found that the Chinese government strictly controlled all research into its origins, clamping down on some while actively promoting fringe theories that it could have come from outside China.

The government is handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to scientists researching the virus’ origins in southern China and affiliated with the military, the AP has found. But it is monitoring their findings and mandating that the publication of any data or research must be approved by a new task force managed by China’s cabinet, under direct orders from President Xi Jinping, according to internal documents obtained by the AP. A rare leak from within the government, the dozens of pages of unpublished documents confirm what many have long suspected: The clampdown comes from the top.

The pandemic has crippled Beijing’s reputation on the global stage, and China’s leaders are wary of any findings that could suggest they were negligent in its spread. The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Health Commission, which are managing research into the coronavirus’ origins, did not respond to requests for comment.

”The novel coronavirus has been discovered in many parts of the world,” China’s foreign ministry said in a fax. ”Scientists should carry out international scientific research and cooperation on a global scale.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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