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Biological Weapons

In 1939 the Japanese army established the Unit 731 germ-warfare research center in Harbin, where Japanese medical experts experimented on Chinese, Soviet, Korean, British and other prisoners.

China possesses an advanced biotechnology infrastructure as well as the requisite munitions production capabilities necessary to develop, produce and weaponize biological agents. China is believed to have started an offensive biological warfare program in the 1950s

China deposited its instrument of accession, and thereby became a State Party to the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) on November 15, 1984. The United States believes that China had an offensive BW program prior to 1984 when it became a State Party to the BWC, and maintained an offensive BW program throughout most of the 1980s. The offensive BW program included the development, production, stockpiling or other acquisition or maintenance of BW agents. Since 1984, China consistently has claimed that it never researched, produced, or possessed any biological weapons and never would do so.

China's declarations under the voluntary BWC-related declarations for confidence building purposes are believed to be inaccurate and incomplete, and there are some reports that China may retain elements of its biological warfare program. China's CBM declarations have not resolved U.S. concerns about this program, and there are indications that China probably maintains its offensive program. The United States believes that in the years after its accession to the BWC, China was not in compliance with its BWC obligations.

Although China has consistently claimed that it has never researched or produced biological weapons, it is nonetheless believed likely that it retains a biological warfare capability begun before acceding to the BWC. China is commonly considered to have an active biological warfare program, including dedicated research and development activities funded and supported by the Government for this purpose. There is essentially no open source data on the subject of Chinese BW activities, and many legitimate research programs use similar, if not identical equipment and facilities.

In 2008 the US Congressional Research Service reported that unclassified sources indicated that several nations were considered, with varying degrees of certainty, to have some BW capability, including China, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Russia, and Syria.

As of 2011 the Nuclear Threat Initiative reported that "China has publicly declared itself to be in compliance with the BTWC; however, past U.S. government reports have alleged that China has a small-scale offensive biological weapons program, and that Chinese entities have transferred controlled biological weapons-related items to nations of proliferation concern such as Iran."

The US Department of State 2019 Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (Compliance Report) issued April 2019 reported tha "Information indicates that the People’s Republic of China (China) engaged during the reporting period in biological activities with potential dual-use applications, which raises concerns regarding its compliance with the BWC. In addition, the United States does not have sufficient information to determine whether China eliminated its assessed biological warfare (BW) program, as required under Article II of the Convention."

China became a State Party to the BWC in 1984. Questions and concerns on its compliance with the Convention have been raised since the 1993 Report. The United States assesses China possessed an offensive biological warfare program from the early 1950s to at least the late 1980s. Although China has submitted BWC Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) each year since 1989, China’s CBM reporting has never disclosed that it ever pursued an offensive BW program.

China continues to develop its biotechnology infrastructure and pursue scientific cooperation with countries of concern. Available information on studies from researchers at Chinese military medical institutions often identify biological activities of a possibly anomalous nature since presentations discuss identifying, characterizing and testing numerous toxins with potential dualuse applications.

Article I of the BWC obligates States Party “never in any circumstances to develop, produce, stockpile, or otherwise acquire or retain …[m]icrobial or other biological agents, or toxins whatever their origin or method of production, of types and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic, protective, or other peaceful purposes.” The United States has compliance concerns with respect to Chinese military medical institutions’ toxin research and development because of the potential dual-use applications and their potential as a biological threat. In addition, the United States assesses that China possessed an offensive BW program from the early 1950s to at least the late 1980s. There is no available information to demonstrate that China took steps to fulfill its treaty obligations under Article II of the BWC, which requires China to destroy or to divert to peaceful purposes all items specified in Article I of its past offensive BW program.

Dr. Dany Shoham is a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, Bar Ilan University, Israel. He is a former senior intelligence analyst in the IDF and the Israeli Defense Ministry. He reported in mid-2019 that there were four facilities that have been regarded to possess parts of the Chinese biological weapons alignment, namely:

1. Institute of Military Veterinary, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Changchun
2. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chengdu Military Region.
3. Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hubei
4. Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

The April 2020 U.S. Department of State EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF FINDINGS On ADHERENCE TO AND COMPLIANCE WITH ARMS CONTROL, NON PROLIFERATION, AND DISARMAMENT AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS reported that , "the People’s Republic of China (China) engaged in biological activities with potential dual-use applications, some of which raise concerns regarding its compliance with Article I of the BWC. In addition, the United States does not have sufficient information to determine whether China eliminated its assessed biological warfare (BW) program, as required under Article II of the Convention.

"Historically, the issue of compliance by China with the BWC has been of concern for many years, though the assessments have changed over time. In the 2005 Report, for instance, United States assessed that “China maintains some elements of an offensive BW capability in violation of its BWC obligations.” In 2010, it was “noted that China possessed an offensive BW program prior to its accession to the BWC in 1984, and . . . was obligated to eliminate this program upon acceding to the Convention.” The United States continues to note that the BWC CBM declarations China has submitted have neither documented that offensive program, nor documented that China has eliminated the program or any remaining biological weapons in accordance with Article II of the BWC."

US officials repeatedly accused China of misreporting the real state of affairs with the COVID-19 outbreak. Additionally, the POTUS announced on 16 April 2020 that Washington would look into a theory that the virus was "leaked" from a Chinese laboratory that has been criticised by experts.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated 28 April 2020 that he believes multiple laboratories exist in China that are working on contagious pathogens under "unknown security conditions". The US top diplomat also complained that the world was not given access to a virology institute in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic started. "There are multiple labs that are continuing to conduct work, we think, on contagious pathogens inside of China today. And we don't know if they are operating at a level of security to prevent this [pandemic] from happening again. Remember this isn't the first time that we've had a virus come out of China", Pompeo stated.

This is not the first time that the US plays on the unconfirmed theory that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory and was "leaked" due to insufficient safety measures, a notion that was first promoted by the mainstream media. Earlier, Pompeo called on China "to come clean" and answer for allegedly starting the outbreak. Beijing vehemently denied the allegations that it was responsible for the pandemic's start.