Tensions between China and the United States over the origins of COVID-19 have escalated again following a new statement from the Chinese Communist Party accusing the U.S. of evading responsibility for the pandemic. In a multipage document, Beijing asserts that the virus was circulating in America earlier than officially acknowledged and criticizes the U.S. for its early pandemic response and subsequent efforts to investigate the outbreak’s origin.

The paper claims the United States has continually deflected blame and used the pandemic to fuel political narratives, rather than addressing its own public health shortcomings. “The US cannot continue to turn a deaf ear to the numerous questions over its conduct,” the document states, while urging Washington to overhaul its pandemic policies and accept greater responsibility in global health efforts.

This rebuke comes shortly after the U.S. government revamped its official COVID.gov website to emphasize growing evidence supporting the lab leak theory — the hypothesis that COVID-19 may have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than emerging naturally. The updated website presents scientific findings suggesting the virus has characteristics not found in nature and highlights that Wuhan is home to China’s leading SARS-related research lab.

The lab leak theory, initially dismissed as fringe or conspiratorial by many media outlets and government officials, has gained renewed legitimacy after a recent report from the CIA concluded that a lab-origin scenario is more likely than natural transmission. The site also details how U.S. officials, including the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, promoted a natural origin theory early on, and references President Trump’s consistent statements pointing to a Wuhan lab.

China’s new paper dismisses these claims and reaffirms the findings of a past joint study with the World Health Organization, which proposed the virus likely jumped from bats to humans through another animal. Chinese officials also took aim at the Biden administration, accusing it of politicizing virus origin tracing while deflecting from its failure to protect American lives during the critical early stages of the outbreak.