The Chinese Communist Party canceled a videoconference with U.S. officials last year, according to a new report from the U.S. State Department. The meeting was intended to discuss growing U.S. concerns about the Communist Party’s secret biological weapons work, which the United States believes may be in violation of an international treaty. The incident comes at a time when questions are increasingly being raised about the origins of the coronavirus, a Chinese Communist virus sweeping the world.
According to The Washington Times, meetings between State Department arms control officials and their Chinese counterparts were scheduled to be held by video because of the outbreak. But the State Department’s annual report on compliance with arms agreements released this month revealed that Chinese Communist Party officials did not attend the meeting, citing technical issues. And the Chinese side did not specify exactly what the technical issue was.
It was the first time in four years that Beijing declined to meet with U.S. officials to discuss alleged violations of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), which came into force in 1975, fueling concerns that Beijing is working on weapons that kill people with microbes or toxins. The U.S. has been holding annual meetings with the CCP on the topic from 2017 through 2019.
Significant Changes in the U.S. State Department’s Weapons Compliance Report
The State Department’s latest weapons compliance report is a slight but significant change in wording from last year’s report, indicating that U.S. intelligence agencies have clarified some questions about the CCP’s covert biological warfare efforts. the 2020 report stated that the CCP was engaged in activities with “potential” military applications. the 2021 report The omission of the word “potential” suggests that this finding is based on new U.S. intelligence about CCP research.
One possible source of the new information is a Communist military doctor who fled to a European country last year with details of Beijing’s biological warfare program. The Washington Times reported on the defection from Aberdeen last September.
Since COVID-19, a pneumonia disease caused by a Chinese Communist virus, began its massive global rampage last year, the U.S. government and lawmakers have repeatedly expressed suspicions that the virus may have leaked from a Wuhan laboratory linked to secret Communist military research. The United Kingdom, Australia and other countries have also urged an independent investigation into the origin of the virus.
For its part, the Chinese Communist Party has consistently denied claims that the Wuhan lab was the source of the virus. But the CCP’s cancellation of a biological weapons meeting with the United States has raised concerns.
Compliance Report Reveals Possible CCP Violation of BWC
This annual weapons compliance report from the U.S. Department of State examines the record of the United States and several other countries in complying with international agreements on nuclear proliferation, chemical and biological weapons, and missile testing. This year’s report takes a critical look at China (the Chinese Communist Party), Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia and a number of other countries.
The compliance report says the CCP appears to be engaged in covert work on bacteriological weapons while keeping the details of the work secret.
The report shows that the CCP military has conducted biological activities of a dual-use nature. The report said these activities raise U.S. concerns about the CCP’s compliance with Article I of the Biological Weapons Convention.
Article I of the convention requires signatories to refrain from producing microorganisms or biological agents for non-peaceful uses “under any circumstances. It also prohibits signatories from manufacturing weapons or delivery systems for biological agents or toxins.
The Chinese Communist Party signed the Convention in 1984. Under its terms, the Communist Party is required to disclose all current and past bacteriological weapons work.
“The United States has compliance concerns regarding toxin research and development at Chinese (CCP) military medical facilities because of the dual-use nature of these toxins and their potential to become a biological threat,” The report said.
The Washington Times said the CCP has more than 40 military research institutions run by the CCP military. These institutions are alleged to be engaged in secret biological weapons work.
A senior U.S. State Department official revealed last year that the CCP’s secret biological warfare efforts include engineered weapons designed to attack specific ethnic groups with pathogens.
Genetic Attacks on Specific Ethnic Groups
Statements by Chinese Communist Party military officials support intelligence gathered by the United States about the development of biological warfare weapons against specific ethnic groups, the report said.
In a 2017 book, retired Chinese Communist Party general Zhang Shibo wrote that the development of modern biotechnology is gradually revealing its powerful offensive capabilities, including biological weapons that can carry out “ethnically specific genetic attacks.
U.S. government analysts do not believe the Chinese Communist Party has completely eliminated its biological warfare program, as required by the convention, the report said. The CCP’s offensive biological weapons program began in the 1950s and continued into the 1980s. Critics argue that Beijing has not disclosed details as required by the convention.
The report says, “As part of its historic biological weapons program, China (CCP) may have weaponized ricin, botulinum toxin, and pathogens of anthrax, cholera, plague, and tularemia.” The report notes that the CCP still has a biotechnology infrastructure and is working with unspecified “relevant countries.”
U.S. intelligence analysts insist that the CCP’s activities may violate the convention’s prohibition on developing, producing or stockpiling biological agents or toxins for non-peaceful uses. The video conference, which was canceled by the Communist Party last year, could have clarified some of these issues.
The U.S. State Department provided the first public information on the CCP’s military biological weapons research in January, including an implementation verification on the Wuhan Institute of Virus Research. The institute conducts research on bat coronaviruses. The bat coronavirus is the closest sample (96.2% similarity) to the coronavirus that caused the global pandemic.
According to the U.S. Department of State’s implementation verification, the CCP’s enhanced secrecy and information controls have come at the expense of the public health of the Chinese and global population. The implementation verification revealed that insiders at the Wuhan Institute for Virus Research (WIV) became ill. several researchers within WIV became ill in the fall of 2019, before the first case (of the CCP virus) was confirmed. These researchers had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.
The U.S. State Department report said a thorough investigation of the virus must include a full accounting of why the Wuhan lab apparently changed and deleted online work records regarding RaTG13 and other viruses, the bat coronavirus identified by WIV in January 2020. Implementation verification also stated that significant covert military research was being conducted at the Wuhan facility, including laboratory animal experiments conducted on behalf of the Chinese Communist military since at least 2017.
Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Site Raises U.S. Concerns
The U.S. compliance report also addresses other arms control issues and says the CCP continues to ramp up work at the Lop Nor nuclear weapons test site in western China. These activities have raised concerns that Beijing is secretly conducting nuclear weapons tests in violation of the test halt.
“In recent years, China (CCP) may be preparing to operate its Lop Nor test site year-round, and the lack of transparency in its nuclear testing activities has raised concerns about its compliance with U.S. zero-yield standards.” The report said, “China (CCP) continues to work at the Lop Nor nuclear weapons test site throughout 2020.”
The report said the CCP also continues to violate the 1987 Missile Technology Control Regime by selling missiles and related technology and selling missiles and equipment to Iran in 2020, failing to comply with a 2000 commitment to the United States not to assist any country in developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
The report said, “Most of these cases remain unresolved, although the United States has asked China (the Communist Party of China) to investigate and cease such activities.”
Last year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on eight Chinese companies under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act for transferring missile technology to Iran.
A few years ago, a U.N. panel of experts reported that the Chinese Communist Party supplied trucks to North Korea. The trucks were converted to transport erected launchers for Pyongyang’s long-range nuclear missiles. North Korea’s mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles, which have been displayed in military parades, are mounted on launchers designed by China.
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