We spoke with an expert who has long been conducting research on China’s biological and chemical weapons.

There’s enough probability that the COVID-19 virus could potentially have been a biological weapon, but China has yet to come clean on how this virus originated, and spread thereafter. It has been more than a year since the first cases began being reported, so it will be difficult for reliable evidence to be found in future investigations.

Global Pandemic: A Different Virus Than Wuhan’s

The current COVID-19 pandemic is a result of a mutated version known as D614G, which was first spotted in eastern China in January. According to research by the U.S.’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, the D614G variant most likely evolved with the ability to infect people more efficiently and rapidly as compared to the original variant detected in Wuhan.

The original variant spotted in Wuhan in late 2019 was already highly contagious. But the D614G mutation appears to have since made the pandemic spread faster and further.

COVID-19 Will Change the Landscape of Warfare

The resurgence of COVID-19 in October 2020 has revived questions on whether biological weapons define the future of warfare.

According to the latest figures, there have been 1.54 million deaths globally, owing to COVID-19 without a single shot being fired. The pandemic has also destabilized global economies, with world poverty and hunger reaching disturbing levels. Another question is whether or not the use of biological weapons will make conventional and nuclear forces obsolete in future warfare.

U.S. Must Impose Immediate Sanctions on China

Sanctions are often a multilateral effort; however, certain states such as the U.S. have operative legal provisions to impose sanctions. Section 307 of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 directs the U.S. President to impose sanctions such as tariffs and export controls on states that have used biological weapons.

If an independent international investigation does establish that the COVID-19 was, in fact, a biological weapon employed by China in Wuhan, the U.S. must immediately impose strict sanctions against China.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of The Japan Institute of International Affairs or any other organization with which the author is affiliated.