A Chinese official has suggested that the U.S. Army may have brought the deadly virus into China, without providing any evidence to support his claim.
Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, made the assertion on Twitter late on Thursday, echoing similar conspiracy theories proliferating on Chinese social media that blame the U.S. for the pandemic.
Mr. Zhao posted a video of the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testifying before Congress that some Americans who were believed to have died from the flu were posthumously diagnosed with COVID-19 . “CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals?” Mr. Zhao tweeted. “It might be U.S. Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! U.S. owe us an explanation!”
Mr. Zhao doubled-down on Friday, tweeting an article that he said showed “further evidence that the virus originated in the US”.
