White House press secretary Jen Psaki reiterated that President Joe Biden continues pushing for “transparency” from the Chinese government over the origins of COVID-19 amid criticism that the issue failed to come up when Biden spoke to China’s leader.
Two years after it was first identified in Wuhan, China, the origins of the coronavirus remain in dispute, and U.S. intelligence agencies have said it’s unlikely they can find the answer without greater cooperation from China.
WHITE HOUSE WON’T SAY IF BIDEN PRESSED XI JINPING ON COVID-19’S ORIGINS
On the heels of a lengthy virtual meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Psaki was pressed on the issue during a Thursday press briefing.
“American intelligence agencies have told the president they cannot crack the origins of COVID without China’s help,” said Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy. “President Biden had a chance to ask for China’s help. Why didn’t he?”
Psaki said the White House has in fact made the case to Chinese leaders.
“The president’s push for the Chinese to be — to participate more, provide more transparent data and information, we’ve never held back on that front,” said Psaki. “We’ve argued for it publicly, we’ve argued for it at every level, and the president did talk in his meeting about the importance of transparency.”
Two main theories exist about the virus’s origins — that it emerged naturally or that it resulted from a laboratory-associated incident, potentially at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The readout from the White House about the Monday call did not mention COVID-19 or its origins, but it said Biden “raised specific transnational challenges where our interests intersect, such as health security.”
The readout from the Chinese side was much longer, but it also made no mention of COVID-19’s origins, although China said Xi told Biden, “Response to any major disease must be based on science. Politicizing diseases does no good but only harm.”
When the Washington Examiner sent the White House a series of questions earlier this week, including whether Biden raised the issue of COVID-19’s origins with Xi, the Biden administration provided only a vague statement in response.
“The two leaders did talk about both COVID and broader health security issues in terms [of] bringing to an end the current pandemic and the importance of donating vaccines,” a senior administration official told the Washington Examiner. “President Biden also talked about the importance of preventing future pandemics and the important role that transparency plays in addressing global health issues.”
Doocy pressed further on Thursday, asking again if Biden specifically asked for greater cooperation with U.S. intelligence agencies investigating the origins of COVID-19.
“Is it clear to somebody who has a Zoom meeting with the president that that’s what he means if that’s not what he says?” he asked.
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Psaki reiterated her previous response.
“I think the president has spoken publicly on this a number of times,” she said. “Our national security officials have conveyed very clearly. I don’t think it’s a secret that’s what we want. That’s what we’ve been pressing for.”
