President Joe Biden refused to answer questions from a reporter on Wednesday about what comes next with investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic inside China.
The exchange came at a press conference following summit in Geneva, Switzerland, between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Is there going to become a time where you might call [Chinese President Xi Jinping], old friend to old friend, and ask him to open up China to the World Health Organization investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of COVID-19?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked.
“Let’s get something straight. We know each other well; we’re not old friends,” Biden responded. “It’s just pure business.”
“So, I guess, my question would be that you’ve said that you were going to press China,” Doocy pressed. “You signed on to the G7 communiqué that said you — the G7 were calling on China to open up to let the investigators in. But China basically says they don’t want to be interfered with anymore. So, what happens now?”
“The impact — the world’s attitude toward China as it develops,” Biden responded. “China is trying very hard to project itself as a responsible and — and a very, very forthcoming nation; that they are trying very hard to talk about how they’re taking and helping the world in terms of COVID-19 and vaccines. And they’re trying very hard. Look, certain things you don’t have to explain to the people of the world. They see the results. Is China really actually trying to get to the bottom of this?”
Biden said that what he was focused on was an effort to “rally the world to work on what is going to be the physical mechanism available to detect, early on, the next pandemic and have a mechanism by which we can respond to it and respond to it early.”
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TRANSCRIPT:
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS REPORTER: In the spirit, Mr. President, of you saying that there is no substitute for face-to-face dialogue, and also with what you said at NATO that the biggest problems right now are Russia and China — you’ve spoken many times about how you have spent perhaps more time with President Xi than any other world leader.
So, is there going to become a time where you might call him, old friend to old friend, and ask him to open up China to the World Health Organization investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of COVID-19?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT: Let’s get something straight. We know each other well; we’re not old friends. It’s just pure business.
DOOCY: So, I guess, my question would be that you’ve said that you were going to press China. You signed on to the G7 communiqué that said you — the G7 were calling on China to open up to let the investigators in. But China basically says they don’t want to be interfered with anymore. So, what happens now?
BIDEN: The impact — the world’s attitude toward China as it develops. China is trying very hard to project itself as a responsible and — and a very, very forthcoming nation; that they are trying very hard to talk about how they’re taking and helping the world in terms of COVID-19 and vaccines. And they’re trying very hard. Look, certain things you don’t have to explain to the people of the world. They see the results. Is China really actually trying to get to the bottom of this?
One thing we did discuss, as I told you, in the EU and at the G7 and with NATO: What we should be doing and what I’m going to make an effort to do is rally the world to work on what is going to be the physical mechanism available to detect, early on, the next pandemic and have a mechanism by which we can respond to it and respond to it early. It’s going to happen. It’s going to happen. And we need to do that. Thank you.