US State Department Officials Accuse China of Developing and Maintaining Biological Weapons
According to a September 14, 2006, Washington Post (WP) article, US officials have accused China of violating the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) by keeping an undisclosed supply of biological weapons. In addition, U.S. officials accused China of not doing enough to prevent the spread of nuclear missile technology to countries like North Korea and Iran. In a hearing entitled "China’s Proliferation to North Korea and Iran, and Its Role in Addressing the Nuclear and Missile Situations in Both Nations" before the congressionally-created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter testified that "We ...continue to believe that China maintains some elements of an offensive BW capability in violation of its commitments...", the WP reports. Sutter, who is responsible for verifying state compliance with arms control commitments, told the Commission that China, which signed onto the BWC in 1984, is conducting research that “raise the possibility that sophisticated BW [biological weapons] and CW [chemical weapons] work could be underway.” The WP also reports that US officials suspect that China is studying ways to aerosolize biological weapons.
Nonproliferation experts are particularly concerned about such research. Leonard Spector, of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, told the WP that developing the technical capacity for aerosolizing pathogens is one of the greatest challenges in developing biological weapons. Furthermore, he told the WP, there's “no particular reason for learning this unless you're thinking of doing something with these weapons...”.
Source: Biosecurity Briefing
According to a September 14, 2006, Washington Post (WP) article, US officials have accused China of violating the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) by keeping an undisclosed supply of biological weapons. In addition, U.S. officials accused China of not doing enough to prevent the spread of nuclear missile technology to countries like North Korea and Iran. In a hearing entitled "China’s Proliferation to North Korea and Iran, and Its Role in Addressing the Nuclear and Missile Situations in Both Nations" before the congressionally-created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter testified that "We ...continue to believe that China maintains some elements of an offensive BW capability in violation of its commitments...", the WP reports. Sutter, who is responsible for verifying state compliance with arms control commitments, told the Commission that China, which signed onto the BWC in 1984, is conducting research that “raise
Nonproliferation experts are particularly concerned about such research. Leonard Spector, of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, told the WP that developing the technical capacity for aerosolizing pathogens is one of the greatest challenges in developing biological weapons. Furthermore, he told the WP, there's “no particular reason for learning this unless you're thinking of doing something with these weapons...”.
Source: Biosecurity Briefing
