"China strongly opposes the law, which severely distorts facts, fabricates false info, hypes up lab-leak theory without evidence,” Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters in Beijing.

“US political manipulation poses the real obstacle to global origins-tracing. The US needs to share the data of suspected early cases in the US with World Health Organization, disclose information about its bio-labs at Fort Detrick, the University of North Carolina and around the globe,” Wang was quoted as saying by a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

US President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday that requires the declassification of information related to the origins of COVID-19 after it was unanimously approved by Congress.

“My Administration will continue to review all classified information relating to COVID-19’s origins, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Biden wrote in a statement.

“In implementing this legislation, my Administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security,” he added.

The bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify all intelligence related to the COVID-19’s origins and came after several current and former officials and US agencies came out in favor of the theory that the virus originated in a Chinese research lab in the city of Wuhan rather than as a result of natural phenomena.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Feb. 28 that the bureau “assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan, accusing Beijing of working to undermine the investigation from the US and other members of the international community.”

More about: