TEHRAN, Jun. 01 (MNA) – China Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that has dismissed the US allegations, saying that the coronavirus outbreaks began in multiple locations around the world as early as the second half of 2019.

Wang Wenbin said during his press conference on Tuesday that "China firmly opposes the politicization of virus origin-tracing by some US politicians."

"Why is it that some in the US are so obsessed with the lab-leak theory when there no evidence to prove that the virus leaked from Chinese laboratories?"

The Chinese spokesman added, "To put it bluntly, the purpose of those in the US is to shirk their responsibility of botched response at home and find another excuse to thwart China's development. However, facts have proved that this trick of scapegoating and blame-shifting will only end up hurting the US own interest and the lives and health of the American people. Politicization does nothing but disrupts the international anti-epidemic effort, and will be met with universal rejection by the international community."

According to Wenbin, "Recently, many international experts and scholars have questioned and criticized the US practice of politicizing the issue of origin-tracing."

He said that origin-tracing is a scientific issue, stressing that as "reports and studies suggestsuggest that the outbreaks began in multiple locations around the world as early as the second half of 2019."

KI/PR