China insists it has been "open and transparent" on COVID origins

• China has repeatedly dismissed the lab leak theory and U.S. government agencies remain largely split on where the pandemic came from.
• U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on Monday that China needs to "be more honest about what happened three years ago in Wuhan with the origin of the COVID-19 crisis," Reuters reported.

Between the lines: The FBI previously concluded COVID emerged from a laboratory leak. But the National Intelligence Council and four government agencies believe with "low confidence" that the virus emerged from natural transmission.

• "There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a briefing on Monday.

State of play: Asked about the "low confidence" assessment at a press briefing Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that "certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing origins-tracing."

• Mao went further at a press briefing Tuesday, adding that China has been "open and transparent" on the issue of origin tracing and that it has "shared more data and research findings on SARS-CoV-2 origins study than any other country."

Go deeper: The rekindled debate over the origins of COVID-19