Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to the UK, attends a webinar co-hosted by China's embassy in the UK and the West China Hospital of Sichuan University on April 20, 2020. (PHOTO / CHINESE-EMBASSY.ORG.UK VIA CHINADAILY.COM.CN)

China's Ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming has strongly condemned the timing and motivation of calls coming from the United States for an inquiry into the origin of the novel coronavirus in China, saying such requests are driven by politics and not borne out by science.

While the international community is focusing on the fight against the virus, while the virus is still ravaging the world and taking lives in many countries, especially in the United States and also in this country, instead of focusing on the fight against the virus, instead of saving lives, they want to do some inquiry.

Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the UK

Speaking at a web event hosted by the China-Britain Business Council on Tuesday, Liu said it was regrettable that some politicians in the UK and other nations have joined the US in making allegations of a cover-up regarding the source of the outbreak.

"These calls are politically motivated," he said.

"While the international community is focusing on the fight against the virus, while the virus is still ravaging the world and taking lives in many countries, especially in the United States and also in this country, instead of focusing on the fight against the virus, instead of saving lives, they want to do some inquiry."

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Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news conference on Wednesday, "What we firmly object to is an inquiry into the pandemic that presumes China's guilt."

Their comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed to have evidence that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China's Hubei province. Pompeo did not provide any evidence to back up these allegations, and many scientists and experts－including those from the World Health Organization, or WHO－support the theory that the virus was first transmitted to humans from animals.

The diplomat said that China's detractors are moved by ulterior motives and hope to "pass the buck for their lack of response" and efforts to contain the virus in their countries.

"It is a game of blaming and scapegoating, and it's not helping the international response," he said.

Liu said that it is up to scientists, rather than politicians, to determine where, when and how the virus started its spread.

"Politicians should focus on how to mobilize countries to fight against the virus, but we should trust scientists, doctors, and experts in their search for the origin of the virus," he said.

Anthony Fauci, the US top infectious diseases expert and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has dismissed theories that the coronavirus was either manufactured or accidentally released from a Chinese laboratory.

In an interview with National Geographic on Monday, Fauci said that available research indicates the virus evolved naturally.

"If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats, and what's out there now is very, very strongly leaning toward this (virus) could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated－the way the mutations have naturally evolved," Fauci said. "A number of very qualified evolutionary biologists have said that everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that it evolved in nature and then jumped the species."

'In the wild to begin with'

He said that "means it was in the wild to begin with. That's why I don't get what they're talking about (and) why I don't spend a lot of time going in on this circular argument".

US intelligence agencies also said last week that there was "widespread scientific consensus" the virus wasn't man-made or genetically modified.

Liu said, while some British politicians have joined the US in "spreading rumors and slander" and "stigmatizing China" during the global pandemic, he does not believe these allegations reflect the stance of the UK government, and they do not represent the broader consensus among businesses in the UK.

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Liu said that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had reaffirmed his government's commitment to stronger relations with China.

"Prime Minister Johnson said in his briefings that because of the early identification of the virus, because China has shared this amount of information very quickly and at an early stage, that the world has had time to study and research a vaccine," Liu said.

Chen Yingqun in Beijing contributed to this story.