US's politicizing virus origin probe doomed to fail: Foreign Ministry

The US politicizing the origin probe of the COVID-19 virus will not win any hearts and is doomed to fail, Zhao Lijian, spokesman of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a news briefing on Wednesday.

On Monday, an international online survey done by CGTN Think Tank showed that 80 percent of those interviewed believe the origin probe has been politicized. The survey is available in several UN official languages, including Chinese, English, Russian, French, Spanish and Arabic.

"This shows the strong discontent by people around the world on the US politicizing the investigation of the origins of COVID-19," he said.

Survey participants have conveyed the message that the investigation has not contributed to the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic and it is merely a useless and ignorant political ploy by the US to contain the rise of China, Zhao said.

To dodge its responsibility for mishandling the pandemic, the US has smeared other countries, politicized COVID-19, and seriously undermined the global effort to fight the pandemic and the scientific effort to understand the virus's origin, he said.

"The US has twisted facts, spread misinformation, disregarded conclusions reached by the WHO-China joint research team, and referenced politicians and an intelligence report with no real supporting evidence to hype the notion that the virus was leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology," Zhao said.

The US commissioning the intelligence agency to investigate the origin of the virus is neither scientific, objective, or rigorous. "It is a political farce from start to finish," he said.

Meanwhile, the US has been coercing scientists to support its lab leak hypothesis with threats and pressure. It is reported that those who do not fall in line are attacked, threatened and some even have to relinquish their position to uphold their scientific truth, Zhao said.

Zhao said the US politically manipulating the origin probe has received wide-spread opposition from the international community.

"We solemnly inform the US, in face of facts, science and justice, political manipulation will not win hearts, and is doomed to fail," he said.