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China, Pakistan jointly testing deadly pathogens
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SME Times News Bureau | 15 Sep, 2020
Under the garb of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China's
Wuhan Institute of Virology and Pakistan Army's Defense Science &
Technology Organization are conducting experiments on deadly pathogens
to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities.
An Australian
investigative media group The Klaxon, in an exclusive report in August
this year, revealed that the two countries have been carrying out
extensive research operations on deadly 'animal to human' pathogens in
Pakistan involving more than 7000 Pakistani farmers, herders and others
and over 2800 camels and other animals.
The Wuhan scientists have
been conducting tests in collaboration with Rawalpindi in Pakistan
since 2015, the Klaxon reported. The programme is funded by China under
Xi's ambitious BRI project.
The results of at least five studies
conducted on some of the world's deadliest and most contagious pathogens
-- West Nile Virus; MERS-Coronavirus; Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever
Virus; the Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus; and the Chikungunya Virus --
have been published in scientific papers between December 2017 and
March 9, 2020.
The China-Pakistan research involves experiments
and genome sequencing of the deadly viruses. One of the studies thanked
Wuhan's National Virus Resource Centre for "providing the virus-infected
Vero cells".
In its comprehensive investigative report, the
Klaxon reported that each of the five studies stated it was "supported"
by the "International Cooperation on Key Technologies of Biosafety along
the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor".
The Klaxon said
"international cooperation on key technologies program" has not been
formally announced, and the only public references to it appear to be in
the acknowledgements sections inside the five scientific papers it
obtained.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, is the
flagship component of China's Belt and Road infrastructure programme,
both of which were announced in 2015.
"The Belt and Road program
has been widely criticised as being a veil for Chinese colonial
expansion, which lumps poor countries with unsustainable amounts of debt
and so undermining their sovereignty, enabling China to exert control
and influence over them," the Klaxon reported.
As recently as
late 2018, Pakistan's Government publicly attempted to push back against
the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, declaring it a bad deal, but it
was almost immediately overruled by Pakistan's powerful military, which
has said it would defend the programme "at all costs".
In a
previous report published in July, The Klaxon quoting "highly credible
intelligence sources" claimed that Wuhan Institute of Virology, was
testing lethal biological agents in Pakistan and providing "extensive
training on manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics" to Pakistani
scientists, which could "enrich a potential offensive biological
program".
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to the
Klaxon recently signed a secret three-year deal with Pakistan military's
Defense Science and Technology Organisation to collaborate research in
"emerging infectious diseases" and the "biological control of
transmitted diseases".
Strangely, the Wuhan-Pakistan military
tie-up has never been publicly announced or disclosed before, the Klaxon
said adding that the key concerns are that Pakistan could use the
technology in bio-warfare, or that deadly pathogens could accidentally
escape from inadequately equipped facilities.
Both China and
Pakistan have denied the claims. However, the Pakistan government has
confirmed the existence of a deal between its military and the Wuhan
lab.
"There is nothing secret about the Bio-Safety Level-3
(BSL-3) laboratory of Pakistan referred to in the report. Pakistan has
been sharing information about the facility with the States parties to
the biological and toxins weapons convention (BTWC) in its submission of
confidence building measures," Pakistan's foreign office said in July.
Islamabad did not identify the location of the BSL-3 laboratory.
Incidentally,
Pakistan's sharp decline in Covid-19 cases just two months after the
mid-June peak of around 6800 cases in a day, has been widely referred to
as a mystery. One of the ministers Asad Umar, who was at the forefront
of the battle against Covid-19, had warned that around 1.2 million
people could be infected in Pakistan by the end of July. However, the
spread was so low that Pakistan lifted most restrictions by mid-August.
Even scientists in Pakistan are unable to explain the drop in the cases.
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