BEIJING: A Chinese official has suggested that the US army may have brought the deadly coronavirus into China, without providing any evidence to support his eyebrow-raising claim.
Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman, made the assertion on Twitter late Thursday, echoing similar conspiracy theories proliferating on Chinese social media that blame the US for the pandemic.
The head of China鈥檚 Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said himself that the source of the virus was wild animals sold at a market in the central city of Wuhan.
But in recent days, Chinese officials and a prominent health expert have claimed that the virus may have originated elsewhere while Beijing has angrily hit back at US officials for calling the disease the 鈥淲uhan virus.鈥�
In his tweet, Zhao posted a video of the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testifying before Congress that some Americans who were believed to have died from the flu were posthumously diagnosed with the COVID-19 illness.
鈥淐DC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?鈥� Zhao tweeted.
鈥淚t might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!鈥�
Zhao doubled-down on Friday, tweeting an article that he said showed 鈥渇urther evidence that the virus originated in the US.鈥�
The Montreal-based website where the article appears, globalresearch.ca, is replete with conspiracy theories about the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Chinese officials have themselves been accused of attempting to cover up the coronavirus outbreak as police in Wuhan reprimanded and silenced doctors who had raised the alarm about the virus as early as December.
US officials have angered China by linking the virus with the country, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling it the 鈥淲uhan virus.鈥�
The foreign ministry has rejected the term as 鈥渄espicable鈥� and 鈥渄isrespecting science.鈥�
More than 130,000 people have been infected by the virus and nearly 5,000 have died across the world so far.
Robert O鈥橞rien, the US national security adviser, insisted on Wednesday that the birthplace of the virus was China.
鈥淭his virus did not originate in the United States, it originated in Wuhan,鈥� O鈥橞rien said at the Heritage Foundation think tank.
鈥淯nfortunately, rather than using best practices, this outbreak in Wuhan was covered up,鈥� he said.
He said China had 鈥渃ost the world community two months to respond鈥� to the epidemic, which has now killed nearly 5,000 people and infected more than 130,000 worldwide.
Had China been more cooperative and allowed foreign experts on the ground earlier, he said, 鈥渨e could have dramatically curtailed what happened both in China and what is now happening across the world.鈥�
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday called OBrien鈥檚 remarks 鈥渆xtremely immoral and also irresponsible.鈥�