China dismisses Washington's concerns about credibility of WHO report on COVID-19

On Saturday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan expressed concerns about whether China duly communicated raw data on the coronavirus to the WHO amid media reports that the organization's investigators were denied access to personalized data on more than a hundred early cases of COVID-19. Sullivan also noted the importance of expert findings to be free from intervention or alternation by the Chinese government.

"What the U.S. has done in recent years has severely undermined multilateral institutions, including the WHO, and gravely damaged international cooperation on COVID-19. But the U.S., acting as if none of this had ever happened, is pointing fingers at other countries who have been faithfully supporting the WHO and at the WHO itself. With such a track record, how can it win the confidence of the whole world?" the embassy's spokesperson said in a statement.

The embassy also expressed hope that Washington would adhere to highest standards itself, as well as support the WHO's work with real actions and make due contribution to the global cooperation on COVID-19.

Former US President Donald Trump pulled the country out of the health organization last year, after accusing it of being "China-centric" and helping Beijing conceal the virus' real origins, which China denied. The new administration under President Joe Biden announced the country's return to the WHO.

The WHO team concluded a month-long research trip to Wuhan, the world's first COVID-19 hotspot, this week. Peter Ben Embarek, the head of WHO’s fact-finding mission to China, presented the early findings, saying that it does not seem plausible that the virus escaped a lab in the Chinese city.