Photo taken on Oct 2, 2020 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (LIU JIE / XINHUA)

China urged the United States to offer a comprehensive clarification on its overseas biological militarization activities.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks on Oct 21 when responding to a query about a report that Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said the US research activities in bio-labs in members of the Commonwealth of the Independent States have caused grave concern.

“The United States not only builds bio-labs in these countries, but also tries to do so in other places across the world,” Medvedev was quoted as saying. 

“However, its research lacks transparency and runs counter to the rules of the international community and international organizations.”

This is not the first time the international community has expressed concern about the US’ biological militarization activities in other countries, Zhao told a regular press briefing, adding China has repeatedly stressed that such activities are not transparent, safe or justified.

Zhao said that according to media reports, the US has set up many bio-labs in 25 countries and regions across the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union, with 16 in Ukraine alone. 

Some of the places where the labs are based have seen large-scale outbreaks of measles and other dangerous infectious diseases. USA Today reports that since 2003, hundreds of incidents involving accidental contact with deadly pathogens occurred in US bio-labs at home and abroad. This may cause the direct contacts to be infected, who can then spread the virus to communities and start an epidemic.

Zhao also raised questions on the purpose behind building so many bio-labs across the world and their safety standards.

“Why is the effort led by the military? How many sensitive biological resources and how much information has it gleaned from relevant countries?” Zhao asked, demanding to know if there is any potential danger of leakage.

“Why is it that the United States, for more than a decade, has been standing singly in the way of negotiations for a BWC (Biological Weapons Convention) protocol that includes a verification regime?” the spokesperson questioned.

The US should be open, transparent and responsible, respond to international concerns, faithfully implement its BWC obligations, clarify its biological militarization activities overseas and stop blocking negotiations for a protocol that includes a verification regime, Zhao said.

Responding to a question on US maltreating Chinese students, Zhao said for some time the US has been using judicial power to wantonly harass and interrogate Chinese students there, and even arrest and prosecute them under false allegations. 

“Multiple Chinese students underwent long-time harassment by US law enforcement personnel at the airport when they were leaving the country. Their cell phones, laptops and other personal belongings were arbitrarily examined and even seized,” he said. 

“This year, from May to September alone, nearly 300 Chinese students experienced US harassment and interrogation at the airport when they were to take interim flights.”

The US behaviors explicitly reveal their hypocrisy in so-called “protection of human rights”. China strongly condemns these behaviors as they seriously violate Chinese students’ lawful rights and interests, and severely undermine people-to-people exchange and educational cooperation. 

“We lodged solemn representations with the US side many times, urging it to correct mistakes and stop discriminatory behaviors against Chinese students,” he said. 

However, the US, an “empire of hacking”, has been exploiting the old trick of a thief crying “stop the thief”. A question relates to the US National Security Agency stating on Oct 20 that one of the threats to US National Security Systems, the US Defense Industrial Base, and Department of Defense information networks is Chinese State-sponsored cyber activity. 

“It is indeed ironic news that the US National Security Agency, as the main implementer of the PRISM program and the world’s largest cyber espionage agency, publicly accuses other countries of cyber espionage,” Zhao said. 

The US NSA has for years been engaged in the world’s largest cyberattack and espionage, even targeting its own allies, he told reporters.

In addition, as is known to all, the US is in a leading position in the information and communications technology, or ICT, hardware and software, and has mastered the most software and hardware vulnerabilities, and has a natural advantage in exploiting vulnerabilities to engage in cyberattack and theft. 

US whistleblower Edward Snowden has said publicly that the NSA is among the worst criminal organizations.

In March, Qihoo 360 released a report showing that the US hacking group APT-C-39 has been attacking and infiltrating China’s key sectors such as aerospace, scientific research institutions, the oil industry, major Internet companies and government agencies for as long as 11 years. 

“It is easy to see, the US and China, which is the perpetrator and which is the victim,” he said.