President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday participated in a summit focused on COVID-19 — but Biden appears not to have pressed for information on whether a Wuhan virology lab caused the pandemic, as its origins remain murky.
The leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum gathered virtually to discuss ending the pandemic and supporting the global economic recovery.
Biden’s remarks weren’t public, but the White House press office didn’t mention US efforts to learn more the origins of COVID-19 in a readout — focusing instead on vaccination and preparation for the future.
Biden “articulated the U.S. approach for ending the pandemic and outlined our global vaccine strategy, whereby the U.S. is donating more than half a billion safe and effective vaccines to more than 100 countries in need around the world,” the White House said.
“President Biden also discussed the importance of investing in better global health security and preparedness so that we are ready the next time we face a pandemic.”
The White House said Biden “put forward a vision for the region that is affirmative, values-based, and transparent.”
At her daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Xi contributed a pre-recorded video message to the summit.
“It wasn’t an interactive opportunity, I would say. And President Xi actually delivered pre-recorded remarks so he wasn’t even there participating,” Psaki said.
In a joint statement after the meeting, the group of world leaders said their focus was on vaccines and global economic recovery, and didn’t mention questions about the origins of COVID-19.
White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment on whether Biden pressed for answers on the theory that COVID-19 emerged from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Former President Donald Trump, who is considering a rematch against Biden in 2024, says China must pay “reparations” for COVID-19 to the US and other countries for allowing the virus to get out of China.
Last year, Trump claimed during the presidential campaign that China would “own” Biden, in part because his son Hunter Biden owns a 10 percent stake in a Chinese investment firm in partnership with state-owned businesses. Psaki told The Post this month that the first son is still “working to unload” that investment.
During his APEC address, Xi announced that China would finance a new fund to be overseen by the organization to fight coronavirus and fuel economic recovery.
The Chinese president also said that his country supports waiving the intellectual property rights of COVID vaccines, as well as cooperating with other countries to ensure a stable and safe supply chain for vaccines.
Xi didn’t mention the pandemic’s origins.
China has rejected requests for transparency on early COVID-19 data. It has done so while also rebuffing international condemnation of its elimination of self-rule in Hong Kong, its mass internment of Uyghur Muslims and its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea.
In May, Biden ordered US spy agencies to conduct a 90-day investigation into whether the virus that causes COVID-19 was released by the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In a statement, Bidan said that two US spy agencies lean toward a theory that the virus emerged naturally from animals. One US spy agency leans toward the lab-release theory.
The White House said in May that it wasn’t ruling out any possibilities, including the deliberate release of the virus.
Biden’s abrupt pivot toward seeking a US review of pandemic origins followed weeks of his administration deferring to the World Health Organization for answers.
Trump withdrew the US from the WHO, arguing it was beholden to China and failed to warn the world about COVID-19 by credulously accepting false Chinese data. Biden unconditionally rejoined the WHO.
The lab leak theory gained traction this year after the Wall Street Journal reported that three employees at the Wuhan lab were hospitalized in November 2019 — just before the outbreak spread.