BEIJING: Beijing accused Washington on Wednesday of harming its own credibility after a top US intelligence official said his agency believed the pandemic “most likely” caused by a laboratory incident in Wuhan, China.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News on Tuesday that the Bureau has now assessed the source of COVID-19 was “most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.”
Chinese officials have angrily denied the claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.
“The United States once again stirs up the laboratory leak theory, which will not discredit China, which will further lower its own credibility,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing on Wednesday.
Wray’s comments come after a report earlier this week said the US Department of Energy had determined that a leak from a Chinese lab was the most likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The department’s findings are significant because it works with a network of national laboratories, including some that do advanced biological research.
But other agencies within the US intelligence community believe the virus emerged naturally in the world.
In Tuesday’s interview, Wray also accused the Chinese government of trying to stall US efforts to investigate the causes of the pandemic.
“The Chinese government... has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here, the work that we’re doing, the work that our US government and close foreign partners are doing,” Wray said.
“And that’s unfortunate for everybody.”
At Wednesday’s press briefing, Mao reiterated a longstanding and unsubstantiated Chinese claim that the virus could have escaped from the US military research lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
“The US should respect science and facts, cooperate with the World Health Organization as soon as possible, invite international experts to conduct traceability research in its country, and share research results with the international community,” she said.
The scientific community sees it as crucial to determine the origins of the pandemic in order to better fight or even prevent the next one.
China says coronavirus ‘lab leak’ claims hurt US credibility
https://arab.news/ys99v
China says coronavirus ‘lab leak’ claims hurt US credibility
- Chinese officials angrily deny the claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing
- China says that the virus could have escaped from a US military research laboratory
Japan to test mine rare-earth mud from deep seabed
TOKYO: Japan will conduct test mining of rare-earth-rich mud from the deep seabed off Minamitori Island, some 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) southeast of Tokyo, from January 11 to February 14, the head of the government-backed project said on Tuesday.
The operation will mark the world’s first attempt to continuously lift rare-earth mud from a depth of around 6,000 meters on to a vessel.
Tokyo, like its Western allies, is seeking to secure stable supplies of critical minerals as China, the dominant supplier of rare earths, tightens export controls.
“One of our missions is to build a supply chain for domestically produced rare earths to ensure stable supply of minerals essential to industry,” Shoichi Ishii, program director of the Cabinet Office’s national platform for innovative ocean developments, told reporters.
The Japanese government is pressing ahead with a national project as part of broader efforts to strengthen maritime and economic security.
The January test will focus on connecting the deep-sea mining system and confirming its ability to lift 350 metric tons of rare-earth mud per day. Environmental impacts will be monitored both on board and on the seabed throughout the operation.
No production target has been set, but if successful, a full-scale mining trial will be conducted in February 2027.
The government-funded project has spent about 40 billion yen ($256 million) since 2018, Ishii said, though estimated reserves have not been disclosed.
Ishii also said that while their research vessel was conducting rare-earth surveys within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around Minamitori Island from May 27 to June 25, a Chinese naval fleet entered the waters on June 7.
“We feel a strong sense of crisis that such intimidating actions were taken, despite our activities being limited to seabed resource surveys within our EEZ,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry said the activities of its military vessels are in line with international law and international conventions, and called on Japan to “refrain from hyping up threats and provoking confrontation,” in a reply to Reuters’ request for comment.
