China Blasts Lab Leak Hypothesis as a “Conspiracy Theory”

State media demands investigation of U.S. bio-weapons facilities.

China has predictably blasted the COVID lab leak hypothesis as a “conspiracy theory,” with state media outlets demanding an investigation into U.S. bio-labs around the world.

The response came after the Biden administration was forced to task the U.S. intelligence community into investigating the issue having previously put a halt to a similar investigation started under Trump.

“Lately, some people have played the old trick of political hype on the origin tracing of [Covid-19] in the world,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in DC. “Smear campaign and blame shifting are making a comeback, and the conspiracy theory of ‘lab leak’ is resurfacing,” he added.

The spokesman also said that focusing on the Wuhan Institute of Virology would make it “hard to find the origin of the virus” and would “seriously hamper international cooperation on the pandemic.”

The editor in chief of the Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, responded to the issue by demanding an investigation into U.S. bio-weapons facilities such as Fort Detrick.