Dynamite News China entered covert deal with Pakistan military for bio-warfare capabilities against India
As part of a broader offensive against India and Western rivals, Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year agreement to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax, the Klaxon reported citing multiple intelligence sources.
Beijing: As part of a broader offensive against India and Western rivals, Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year agreement to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax, the Klaxon reported citing multiple intelligence sources.
China has been criticised for handling of coronavirus pandemic with speculations that disease could have emerged from Wuhan Institute of Virology, though most experts have discounted the theory.
According to the report authored by Anthony Klan, the same lab has signed the covert deal with Pakistan military's Defense Science and Technology Organization (DESTO), to collaborate research in "emerging infectious diseases" and advance studies on the biological control of transmitted diseases.
As per the intelligence sources cited by The Klaxon, they have serious concerns about the covert project which involves China testing biological agents outside its borders to minimize the "risk of drawing condemnation from the international community".
China has been accused over its opaqueness in the handling of coronavirus as crucial information of the lethal virus was not revealed in the early days of the outbreak which could have helped the pandemic to be tackled more effectively.
The infamous Wuhan Lab had "lent all financial, material and scientific support for the project". The program being entirely funded by China is formally titled "Collaboration for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Studies on Biological Control of Vector Transmitting Diseases", according to the report.
One senior intelligence source was quoted as saying that DESTO has been engaged in various dual-use research projects related to anthrax under a covert biological weapons program.
The Klaxon report said the "covert China-Pakistan project has conducted "successful soil sampling tests" to isolate Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), which has a "striking similarity" to Bacillus Anthracis - or anthrax."
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"Considering the striking similarity between BT and Bacillus Anthracis, a classified bio-warfare agent, (Pakistan's) improved know-how in handling the bacteria could enrich a potential offensive biological program," a source was quoted as saying.
The Wuhan Lab has provided Pakistan with reagents for Bacillus Thuringiensis. It was also providing "extensive training on the manipulation of pathogens and bio-informatics" to Pakistani scientists "to help Pakistan develop its own virus collection database", said the report.
According to an intelligence source cited by the outlet, this could help Pakistan "enhance its capability of genetic identification of viruses, access to dangerous microorganisms, and use of genomic tools for research and infectious diseases." The secret project was "detached from supervision of civilian universities or government health departments in Pakistan" and was structured so as to allow unspecified operations, the report said.
A source was quoted as saying that the agreement "clearly outlines that the cooperation is not necessarily limited to stated objectives" and "new thematic research to monitor potential new diseases can be added by either party". China's involvement in the project is being viewed by India and key western intelligence agencies as being "driven chiefly by its agenda to engage Pakistan against India," a security expert told The Klaxon on condition of anonymity.