White House says Biden, Xi discussed origins of COVID-19 probe

US President Joe Biden discussed the investigation into the origins of COVID-19 during a call with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Aaccording to the White House, they did discuss a range of trans-national issues including COVID-19, and understanding its origins is of course a primary concern for this administration," White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday. "Yes, it was a topic raised, but I'm not going to go into further detail." 90-minute call was the first talks for the two leaders in seven months amid cool relations between the countries.

Biden vowed last month to press China for answers over the origins of a pandemic that has now killed 4.8 million people worldwide. Intelligence agencies said they could not resolve a debate over whether the virus emerged from a Chinese research laboratory without Beijing's help. Beijing denies the US accusation that it has not cooperated with the pandemic. A US official who spoke to Reuters on Thursday said Biden had not planned to raise the prospect of US retaliatory action or "costs" if China refused to cooperate on the investigation or a range of other issues. For his part, Xi told Biden that the two countries should respect each other's core concerns and properly manage differences, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Psaki described the call as respectful and candid, not lecturing or condescending, intended at keeping channels of communication open between the countries. Climate and human rights were among the topics, she said, and though economic matters were discussed they were "not a major part" of the call.