China's PLA has long touted 'biological frontiers of warfare'

FPI / April 2, 2020

Geostrategy-Direct.com

In 1996, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Art Press published “Warfare Beyond Rules”, in which the central premise was that China should prepare to conduct “warfare beyond all boundaries and limitations to defend itself.”

The book’s authors, two colonels in the PLA, stated that war may include a blend of stealth planes and cruise missiles, along with biochemical, financial, and terrorist attacks.

More than a decade later, a 2010 publication titled “War for Biological Dominance” emphasized the impact of biology on future warfare.

China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, the communist country’s national strategy of military-civil fusion, has highlighted biology as a priority. As a result, as per the September 2017 “Thirteenth Five-Year Special Plan for Military-Civilian Integration Development”, the Central Committee, the State Council, and the Central Military Commission (CMC) have put in motion the full implementation of the development strategy of military-civilian integration in the field of science and technology.

“Study of the Chinese military’s interest in biology as an emerging domain of warfare becomes increasingly relevant in the current COVID-19 context, particularly when viewed against the two-decade-old backdrop of emphasis on biological frontiers of warfare put forth by Chinese military thinkers,” Monika Chansoria wrote in a March 25 analysis for Japan-Forward. “It is well-established that Chinese military strategists have been arguing about potential ‘genetic weapons’ and the possibility of a ‘bloodless victory.’ ”

Caixin Global, an independent Chinese media outlet, recently revealed that Chinese laboratories by late December 2019 had in fact identified a mystery virus — later identified as COVID-19 — to be a highly infectious new pathogen. But the scientists were ordered to stop further testing, destroy samples, and suppress the news to the fullest extent possible, the report said.

The regional health official in Wuhan City, the epicenter of the pandemic, demanded the destruction of the lab samples on Jan. 1, 2020. China didn’t acknowledge that there was human-to-human transmission until more than three weeks later.

More . . . . Current Edition . . . . Subscription Information

Free Press International