*BEIJING: *China’s state broadcaster CCTV on Monday attacked US Secretaryof State Mike Pompeo’s “insane and evasive remarks” over the origins of thecoronavirus pandemic, further fuelling Sino-US tensions.
Pompeo on Sunday said “enormous evidence” showed the virus originated in alab in China, doubling down on previous claims that have been repeatedlydenied by the World Health Organization and various scientific experts.
The theory has been heavily pushed by the Trump administration, which hasbeen increasingly critical of China’s handling of the outbreak that firstemerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Since then, the virus has killed more than 247,000 people and 3.5 millionhave been infected worldwide.
Titled “Evil Pompeo is wantonly spewing poison and spreading lies”, theharshly-worded commentary cited WHO executive director Mike Ryan andColumbia University virologist W. Ian Lipkin, who claimed that the virus isnatural in origin and was not man-made or leaked from a laboratory.
“These flawed and unreasonable remarks by American politicians make itclear to more and more people that no ‘evidence’ exists,” the commentarysaid.
“The so-called ‘virus leaked from a Wuhan lab’ hype is a complete and utterlie. American politicians are rushing to shift the blame, cheat votes andsuppress China when their own domestic anti-epidemic efforts are a mess.”
Two further commentaries published on Monday by state newspaper People’sDaily attacked Pompeo and former White House strategist Steve Bannon as a“pair of lying clowns”, and blasted Bannon as a “Cold War living fossil”.
Bannon last week said on a US far-right talk show that China had committeda “biological Chernobyl” against America and advocated the theory that thevirus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, echoing recent WhiteHouse rhetoric.
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In the past week, CCTV has repeatedly slammed Pompeo as the “common enemyof mankind” and accused him of “spreading a political virus” over hisrepeated claims that the pandemic originated in a lab.
China and the US have repeatedly traded barbs over the virus’ origins in anescalating war of words, after the Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijianin March pushed the conspiracy theory that the US military may have broughtthe virus to China.
Since then, the two superpowers have accused each other of spreadingmisinformation, as US President Donald Trump has also attacked China overits alleged lack of transparency.
Trump last week claimed to have proof the Wuhan Institute of Virology wasthe source, appearing to echo speculation fuelled by US right-wing radiocommentators about a secret lab.
US news reports say Trump has tasked US spies to find out more about theorigins of the virus, as he makes China’s handling of the pandemic acentrepiece of his campaign for the November presidential election.
Most scientists believe the virus jumped from animals to humans afteremerging in China, possibly from a market in Wuhan selling exotic animalsfor meat. -APP/AFP
