SYDNEY, May 26 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. State Department document that was used by some Australian newspapers to link COVID-19 to a laboratory contains no solid evidence but instead relies on publicly available information, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported Tuesday.

The dossier appeared in News Corp Australia-owned media earlier this month and was assumed as high-level western government intelligence.

The U.S. embassy in Canberra has held meetings with Australian officials to clarify the dossier to be a 'non-paper' only intended for background use, according to the ABC.

"A non-paper is a diplomatic document intended to have essentially non-official status, to be almost deniable, and to be used essentially to generate discussion with foreign governments. It doesn't hold enormous weight or credibility," Head of the Australian National University's National Security College Rory Medcalf told the ABC.

The ABC cited several senior officials in the Australian government, who wished to remain anonymous but could confirm the true nature of the document, saying that it was widely distributed by the U.S. State Department.

Other areas of the Australian media as well as political leaders have been among those who criticize the use of the document to create misleading contents and cast unfounded aspersions on China's handling of the COVID-19 outbreak and its source. Enditem

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