China goes on offensive ahead of US intel report on coronavirus origins

China is going after the U.S. ahead of the release of an intel report on the origins of the coronavirus.

“If they want to baselessly accuse China, they better be prepared to accept the counterattack from China,” Fu Cong, a Foreign Ministry director general, said on Wednesday to a group of foreign reporters, The Associated Press reported.

Fu continued by saying “scapegoating China cannot whitewash the U.S.”

The comments from China come a day after reports emerged that the U.S. investigation into the origin of the coronavirus was inconclusive. 

Two U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter told The Washington Post that the intel report did not find a definitive answer for the origin of the virus.

There are two theories debated for the origins of the virus, with one theory stating it began in bats and transmitted to humans while the other says the virus began in a lab in Wuhan, China.

China has been defensive against the theory the virus started in a lab in its country, and has not been forthcoming with information during investigations.

Fu said that the World Health Organization (WHO) should focus its own investigation into the virus’s origins on the U.S. Army base Fort Detrick.

“If Dr. Tedros believes that we should not rule out the hypothesis of a lab leak, well, he knows where to go,” Fu said, referring to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “He needs to go to the U.S. labs.”

The U.S. report is expected to be declassified and made available to the public in the coming days, according to the U.S. officials.