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

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

Head of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission of China's ruling Communist Party, Yang also told Blinken that Washington should handle Taiwan-related issues "carefully and appropriately," state broadcaster CCTV reported.