China demands comprehensive clarification of US bio-military activities

BEIJING The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday Washington should give complete and detailed clarification of its bio-military activities and end its solitary position of opposing the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism for biological weapons.

Zhao Lijian made remarks at a daily press conference in response to a media question on Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova's recent rebuttal of Russia's discovery of documents and information on the bio-military plan implemented in Ukraine by the US Department of Defense.

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Russian side has disclosed related facts to the United Nations and other international organisations, demanding detailed explanations from the US side, a reporter said.

Zhao said that the US has failed to provide a convincing explanation for its bio-military activities, adding that there were ambiguities and even contradictions in the US statements so far, which further aggravates the concerns of the international community.

How many US bio-collaboration facilities are there around the world? How many biological samples did the United States take away from the United States under the agreement between the United States and Ukraine? What is the sensitive information that Ukraine is not allowed to disclose under the agreement? Has the United States conducted any dangerous research outside the United States that is prohibited in their homeland? As one of the Biological Weapons Convention depository states, the US celebrated the 50th anniversary of the opening for signature of the BWC, while talking about strengthening the mechanism, it stood alone in opposing the establishment of a multilateral BWC verification mechanism, Zhao said.

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He said that the US should be an example, not an exception, as a depository state of the BWC.

He said that the US side should give a detailed and comprehensive clarification of its bio-military activities and stop single-handedly opposing the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism.