Chinese President Xi Jinping finds himself at the center of a controversy stirred up by his U.S. counterpart: Did the novel coronavirus escape from a Wuhan research laboratory, or did it naturally jump into humans from a bat or other animal? (Nikkei Montage/Source photos by Xinhua/AP, AFP/Jiji)

China knew of lab safety concerns from last year

Beijing had been preparing biosecurity law, but not fast enough

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

April 30, 2020 04:07 JST

TOKYO -- "We're doing very serious investigations," U.S. President Donald Trump said during a briefing earlier this week when asked about China's responsibility in spreading the new coronavirus.

"We are not happy with that whole situation," Trump went on, "because we believe it could have been stopped at the source, it could have been stopped quickly, and it wouldn't have spread all over the world."