Is China stooping down to this level? China has reportedly entered a covert deal with Pakistan military for bio-warfare capabilities against India and Western rivals, say reports.
China-Pakistan
According to latest reports, Pakistan and China in a secret move have entered a three-year agreement to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including several research projects related to the deadly agent Anthrax, the Klaxon citing multiple intelligence. China has been criticised worldwide for handling the coronavirus pandemic. Many believe that the virus was initiated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, though many have also discounted this theory.
According to the reports by Anthony Klan, the same lab has assigned the covert deal with Pakistan military’s Defence Science and Technology Organization (DIESTO) to collaborate research in “emerging infectious diseases” and further study on the biological control of transmitted diseases.
As per the intelligence sources by The Klaxon, they have serious concerns about the covert project which involves China testing biological agents outside its border to minimise the ‘risk of drawing condemnation from the international community” China has been accused over its opaqueness in the handling of coronavirus as crucial information of the lethal virus was not revealed in the early days of the outbreak which could have helped the pandemic to be handled more effectively and efficiently.
The project financed by China has been formally titled “Collaboration for emerging infectious diseases and studies on Biological control of Vector transmitting Diseases”. Its also been reported by sources that DIESTO has been engaged in various dual-research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapon programme.
The report also says that the covert China-Pakistan project has been conducted “successful soil sampling tests” to isolate Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) which has a striking similarity to Anthrax.
Pakistan’s improved know-how in handling the bacteria could enrich a potential offensive biological program,” a source was quoted as saying. The Wuhan Lab has provided reagents for Bacillus Thuringiensis. It was also providing “extensive training on the manipulation of pathogens and bioinformatics to scientists to develop its own virus collection database”, said the report.
According to an intelligence source cited by the outlet, this could help enhance its capability of genetic identification of viruses, access to dangerous microorganisms, and use of genomic tools for research and infectious diseases. The secret project was “detached from the supervision of civilian universities or government health departments in and was structured so as to allow unspecified operations, the report said. A source was quoted as saying that the agreement “clearly outlines that the cooperation is not necessarily limited to stated objectives” and “new thematic research to monitor potential new diseases can be added by either party.
China’s involvement in the project is being viewed by India and key western intelligence agencies as being “driven chiefly by its agenda to engage against India,” a security expert told The Klaxon on condition of anonymity.
China’s keen interest in the project is driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India and to conduct potentially dangerous experiments on foreign soil, without subjecting its own land and people to risk,” the expert said.
The plan, according to the report, was a part of a move by Beijing to Pakistan a destination for hazardous biochemical research” while “evading use of its own territory for such activities”, which “stand the risk of drawing criticism and condemnation from the international community”.
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Sources told The Klaxon that the China-Pakistan biological project had already undertaken experiments on the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus, a rapid-onset fever virus that causes death in about 25% of cases and is similar to the Ebola.
Pakistan is allegedly carrying out tests on CCHFV in laboratories which are not equipped to handle Biosafety Level-4 diseases, the report stated. The threat of biological warfare has grown considerably in recent years with experts warning that it is heavily involved in DNA research that could potentially enable a biological weapon to target or be ineffective against, people of specific races. Intelligence sources cited by The Klaxon said there were concerns the Wuhan Institute of Virology had also established the Institute of Medical Biology in Kunming, in China’s southern Yunnan province.
There were concerns the Kunming facility, which is controlled by the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, was also handling class-4 diseases without proper protections, the report said. According to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University, there have been 15,439,456 cases of coronavirus worldwide, while the fatalities related to the virus has risen to 631,926.
Because of the increased threat of terrorism, the risk posed by various microorganisms as biological weapons needs to be evaluated. Biological warfare agents may be more potent than conventional and chemical weapons. the threat of bioterrorism is real and significant; it is neither in the realm of science fiction nor confined to our nation.
Very informative
Eyeopener!