China’s Wild Card: Biological Weapons
We interviewed an expert, a long-time researcher on China’s biological and chemical weapons, regarding possibilities ofthose weapons being utilized.
Monika Chansoria, Senior Fellow at The Japan Institute of International Affairs
Monika Chansoria received her Ph. D. in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. She previously conducted research in France and the U.S. for many years, and has authored several books including China, Japan, and Senkaku Islands: Conflicts in the East China Sea Amid an American Shadow and Nuclear China: A Veiled Secret.
There is a possibility that one of China’s experiments went wrong, and that the Wuhan virus is a spillover from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
It is also probable that they were researching this virus as part of their larger biological weapons program and related capabilities which have existed since many decades. The Chinese, especially the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military, has always emphasized that they need to be prepared to conduct war beyond all boundaries and limitations. This is the concept of asymmetric warfare, combining conventional attacks with non-war actions. Basically, they will be prepared to launch cruise missiles and stealth places, but they will simultaneously launch biochemical weapons, financial attacks and cyber attacks. I think the corona-virus crisis that originated in Wuhan is a textbook example of probable methods through which asymmetric war can be launched, holding dangerous and very fatal implications globally.
Is China Scoping Biological WarfareUse for Specific Ethnic Genetic Attacks?
In 2010, Guo Jiwei, a professor and chief physician at the Third Military Medical University, authored a publication titled War for Biological Dominance. In his book, Jiwei emphasized the impact of biology on future warfare.
Also, in a 2017 edition of PLA’s Science of Military Strategy, one of the sections discusses new potential kinds of biological warfare, including specific ethnic genetic attacks. We do not know what exactly is its current status, but we can conclude that their biological weapons research is fairly advanced and can be conducted for future usage in warfare.
Multiple Biological Research and Production Facilities in China
It’s not just the Virology Institute of Wuhan. There are many other significant biological warfare research organizations in China that lie outside of Wuhan and need to be brought under the scanner. These include a bacteriological factory at Yan’an, in the Shanbei region, and Xishan of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. There are many types of bombs including aerosols, or smoke-type bacteria bombs, bacteriological containers, bacteria grenade sand tetanus bacteria bombs.
There is also a biological products factory at Dalian, with products including tetanus and cholera vaccines. China’s well-developed infrastructure allows for advanced capabilities, including the development of these biological weapons and vaccines.
Although China acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention in 1984, it however continued with the biological weapons program even after signing it. This was a clear violation of the BWC which is an international treaty for which China held an obligation. . It is well established and acknowledged that China does not really abide by international conduct, norms and rules and it seeks to rewrite the international rules.
The present-day crisis is an ugly reminder for the international community to ensure that China should be urged by the global community to come out more responsibly and transparently about all these facilities and programs including China’s chemical weapons program, which can be put to use in the setting of asymmetric warfare.
