STR/AFP via Getty ImagesOfficials from China warned Brussels Wednesday that they would not "politicize the issue of origins traceing" as there is growing pressure on Beijing for an investigation into the source of the coronavirus pandemic.China's mission to EU made the statement after Mariya Gabriel, Research and Innovation Commissioner, added her name to a group consisting of scientists and government representatives from Japan, Australia, and the U.S. They called for the "Chinese government" to reconsider its decision not to participate in the World Health Organization proposal for the COVID-19 origins phase.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, asked China earlier in the month to openly cooperate in its ongoing mission to find the source of the virus that was first identified in Wuhan. The WHO asked China to share raw data from the early days of the pandemic. China has so far refused.The lab-leak origin theory of the coronavirus has also been gaining popularity in recent months. This theory was initially dismissed as fringe.China's mission to EU defended Beijing’s track record with WHO. It maintained that Beijing had cooperated with the authority in health and that it opposed "the practice or political manipulation in name of open and transparent scientific research."It asked the "relevant parties" not to use this issue to make others feel guilty and to avoid responsibility.
