BEIJING: China on Thursday (May 7) accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of telling one lie to cover up another in his continued attacks against Beijing over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The remarks were made by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, who reiterated that Beijing has been transparent about the COVID-19 outbreak that emerged in China late last year and that US politicians are making baseless accusations against China.
The United States has accused Beijing of mishandling the outbreak.
READ: Pompeo has no evidence about COVID-19 lab leak: China
Hua also said Beijing opposes US interference in its domestic affairs, in response to a question about the State Department's decision to delay a report to Congress assessing whether Hong Kong enjoys sufficient autonomy from China to continue receiving special treatment from the US
Pompeo told a news conference on Wednesday the report will be delayed "to account for any additional actions" leading up to the annual meeting of Chinese parliament in late May.
Washington and Beijing have clashed repeatedly over the virus, which emerged in China late last year but has since spiralled into a global pandemic.
Conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab in Wuhan have swirled since earlier this year, but were brought into the mainstream last month by US government officials.
READ: US says 'enormous evidence' shows coronavirus came from China lab
The World Health Organization has said US claims about the origin of the virus were "speculative".
The top US epidemiologist Anthony Fauci has echoed the WHO's statement, telling National Geographic that all evidence so far "strongly indicates" a natural origin.
But countries including the United States and Australia have called for an investigation into how the disease transformed into a global pandemic.
Officially, China's toll for the virus is 4,633 - but several countries have cast doubt on whether the numbers are accurate.
China and the US had only recently soothed economic tensions, with the signing of a "phase one" trade deal in January.
But since then the world's two biggest economies have been exchanging insults and accusations.
Trump and his administration angered Beijing by repeatedly referring to "the Chinese virus" when discussing the COVID-19 outbreak.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiV2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vbmV3cy9hc2lhL2NvdmlkLTE5LWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXVzLWNoaW5hLXBvbXBlby0xMjcxMTgxONIBAA?oc=5
2020-05-07 08:22:59Z
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