US biological militarization should be subject to multilateral inspection: MFA

The international community has every reason to question the US for “owning the most biological military activities” while being the only country opposed to establishing a multilateral inspection mechanism, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday.

“The US, as a state party to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), has the obligation to abide by all provisions of the BWC and to work with the international community to address the concerns through clarifications and consultations,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at press briefing in Beijing. “We welcome a fair, objective and professional assessment of the documents disclosed by the Russian side under the framework of the BWC and the UN.”

Constructive responses from the US were also welcomed so as to restore the international community's confidence in its implementation of the convention, he noted.

Zhao also stressed that the US, without solid evidence, had accused other countries of failing to comply with the agreement, demanded other countries to accept inspections and “used it as an excuse to impose illegal unilateral sanctions and use force ignoring the UN Security Council.”

But when it came to compliance, the US was trying to “muddle through, which is unacceptable,” Zhao said. “Compliance is a matter of international peace and security that cannot be simply defined by the US based on its double standards.”

Zhao stressed the importance of “inspection to ensure compliance” and urged the US to stop exclusively obstructing the resumption of negotiations on the inspection protocol to the convention.