China’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump’s assertion that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan and claimed a recently leaked GOP memo discredited the allegation.

Trump said last Thursday that he’s seen evidence that gives him a high degree of confidence that the new disease originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Pompeo strongly echoed the president’s allegation on Sunday, telling ABC News that there’s “enormous evidence” that the virus originated in the lab and the Chinese government purposely downplayed the severity of the outbreak.

“The huge drama of blame-shifting in the United States has already been heavily spoiled, and continuing the drama is meaningless,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said today. “I advise those people in the United States absolutely not to become enthralled by their own act.”

Hua cited a recently leaked 57-page memo, written by a top GOP strategist and sent by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, advised the party’s candidates to aggressively attack Beijing when publicly addressing the pandemic.

The April 17 memo, titled “Corona Big Book,” details suggestions on how to link Democratic candidates to the Chinese Communist government, as well as ways to handle allegations of racism from critics. The document provides for three main talking points: Democrats do not adequately hold China to account, Beijing is responsible for the virus because they covered it up and Republicans will retaliate by pushing for sanctions.

“Coronavirus was a Chinese hit-and-run followed by a cover-up that cost thousands of lives,” the document read. “Don’t defend Trump, other than the China Travel Ban—attack China.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and Army General Mark Milley have contradicted Trump and Pompeo’s claims that the virus originated in the Wuhan lab.

“The best evidence shows the virus behind the pandemic was not made in a lab in China,” Fauci said in an interview with National Geographic published on Monday. “Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species.”

Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a press briefing on Tuesday that “we don’t know” whether coronavirus came out of the virology lab or a wet market in Wuhan.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence last week maintained their position that there was likely no human intervention in the virus outbreak but said intelligence officials are probing the possibility the disease accidentally leaked from the lab, confirming Newsweek‘s previous reporting on the matter.

Newsweek reached out to the White House and Department of State for comment. This story will be updated with any response.

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