January 8, 2021

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on January 7 stated, "China should immediately accept a World Health Organization mission to investigate the origins of COVID-19."

This was a comment Shii made to reporters in the Diet building regarding the WHO research team being denied entry to China.

Shii criticized the Chinese government for not admitting the WHO team to China by saying, "To identify the origins of the coronavirus is very important for the international community to cope with the pandemic. In fact, this is the earnest demand of the entire world. There is no excuse for China to refuse to allow access of the WHO fact-finding team."

Shii added, "The JCP has criticized China for not reflecting on the failure in its initial responses to the coronavirus. We again criticize China for not cooperating with the WHO investigation."

Past related article:
> JCP Shii: International community should unite to control COVID-19 pandemic [May 22, 2020]