China brands Covid-19 lab-leak theory as 'absurd, ' Blinken urges transparency

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken listens as US President Joe Biden (unseen) makes a statement on the Covid-19 pandemic, in St Ives, Cornwall on June 10, 2021, ahead of the three-day G7 summit being held from 11-13 June. - G7 leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the United States meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years, for the three-day talks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. - AFP

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, June 11 (Reuters): US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need for cooperation and transparency over the origins of Covid-19 in a call with Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on Friday and raised other contentious topics, including China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Yang, China's top diplomat, expressed to Blinken Beijing's serious concern that some people in the United States were spreading the "absurd story" about the coronavirus escaping from a Wuhan laboratory, Chinese state media said.