The Chinese government continues to hide important information about the coronavirus that could help nations better develop a response to the pandemic, according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe, such as viral isolates, clinical specimens, and details about the many COVID-19 patients in December 2019, not to mention 'patient zero,'" Pompeo told reporters on Wednesday.
As U.S. and other global medical researchers seek a cure for the virus, China has denied access to samples that could push these efforts forward, Pompeo said, adding that it still remains unclear whether the coronavirus emerged organically or was leaked from a Wuhan-based laboratory. The United States has evidence that China ordered samples of the virus to be destroyed in the early days of its spread, according to Pompeo.
"We still don't have the access," he said. "We collectively, the world, don't have the samples. It's not even just that in the moment they couldn't do the right thing; they continue to be opaque and they continue to deny access for this important information that our researchers, our epidemiologists need."
Countries are also beginning to hold China accountable for its dissemination of faulty medical equipment. Pompeo said the Communist Party's efforts to mislead world authorities about the virus have exposed the regime's corruption.
"As a result of China's choices, countries are starting to understand the risk of doing business with the Chinese Communist Party and taking action to protect their people," Pompeo said. "The free nations of the world are starting to understand that China doesn't share those democratic values that we hold dear—or their economic interests—and that this matters to the entire world."
Pompeo said it is still unclear whether the virus originated in a lab or in nature.
"The intelligence community is still figuring out precisely where this virus began," he said. "Here's how this could get solved really quickly: The Chinese Communist Party could do what they're committed to do under their obligations to the World Health Organization—to be transparent, to be open, to do the simple things that nations all around the world do to make sure that pandemics like this don't get out of control, and in fact, importantly, stay out of control."