On July 29, Chinese Consul General in Vancouver Tong Xiaoling issued a statement on the COVID-19 origin-tracing in Singtao Daily and Mingpao. Here is the full text:

On July 16, the Secretariat of the World Health Organization(WHO) notified the member states of its work plan on the second-phase origins study of the coronavirus. China and many member states think the work plan is the product of political manipulation because of a lack of scientific principles and the spirit of cooperation in its research focus and drafting process.

The origins study of the coronavirus is a very important scientific and health issue. It is not only of great significance for the control of COVID-19 pandemic, but also help preventing similar infectious diseases in the future. At the same time, origin-tracing is a complex scientific matter that involves many disciplines and experts in many different fields. Therefore, origin tracing should be carried out scientifically under the overall planning and coordination of the WHO with scientists and experts be the main actors during the whole process. Any actions that are for self-interests, against the spirit of science and out of political manipulation will only severely disrupt and undermine global anti-pandemic cooperation and bring harm to even more innocent people.

China has been attaching great importance to the origin-tracing of the virus. Since the beginning of the epidemic, China has organized a multidisciplinary team to conduct its own origin-tracing research in a scientific, professional, serious and responsible attitude.

China has also taken the lead in working with the WHO and invited WHO experts to China twice to conduct origins study. Earlier this year, authoritative international experts from 10 countries including the United States, Britain, Japan, Australia formed a joint expert group with their Chinese counterparts and conducted a 28-day joint research in China. China fully supported the work of the WHO expert team under the principles of openness, transparency, science, and cooperation.

On March 30, the WHO released the joint study report "WHO-convened Global Study of Origins of SARS-CoV-2: China Part" and reached the important conclusion that "a laboratory leak is extremely unlikely". The scientificity and authority of the report and China's open and transparent attitude on the origin-tracing have been fully recognized by more and more experts in the relevant field.

The origin-tracing is a scientific matter that should not be politicized. This is China's consistent position and the consensus of most countries in the international community. As of now, 70 countries have sent letters to the WHO Director-General or issued statements to voice opposition to politicizing origins tracing and emphasize the importance of upholding the joint China-WHO study report.

China will continue to actively support and participate in the next phase of global origin-tracing research in the spirit of openness, transparency and cooperation. We also hope that the WHO will listen to the voices of reason, adhere to the spirit of science, professionalism and objectivity, work with the international community to safeguard the scientific nature and seriousness of the origins study, resist the retrogressive trend of politicizing the issue of origin-tracing, and safeguard the sound atmosphere of global anti-epidemic cooperation.

Persist in cooperation and stop smearing; defend the truth and abandon lies; uphold science and resist political manipulation. This is the right way to carry on with the virus origin-tracing.