China: UN's 'full attention' needed for US bioweapons in Ukraine

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China's Deputy Representative to the United Nations Geng Shuang relayed China's concerns regarding allegations made by Russia of US bio-military activities throughout Ukraine, followed by calls for the international community to give its "full attention" to this matter. 

Speaking to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, Geng said: "Russia has repeatedly launched allegations to the UN Security Council that the United States is suspected of conducting bio-military activities in Ukraine. China is gravely concerned. We believe that any evidence of clues related to compliance with the convention [Biological Weapons Convention] should receive full attention from the international community and deserve thorough and to-the-point responses and clarifications by the party concerned,"

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According to China, compliance concerns can effectively be addressed through a fair and transparent investigation by the UNSC, which would in turn back the UNSC's authority and effectiveness. 

A draft resolution was submitted by Russia to the UNSC in an attempt to form the commission to investigate the claims against the US and Ukraine on compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention for activities in biological laboratories in Ukraine. It, however, was not adopted due to an insufficient vote count in its favor.

The Russian Ministry of Defense presented evidence in Geneva proving that the US has military-biological activity in Ukraine, the radiation, chemical, and biological defense branch of the Russian armed forces chief Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said in September.

The US admitted to having carried out biological activities in Ukraine, however, it claimed that it was in support of the BWC, and according to US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, technical experts from the United States worked with Ukrainian delegations and "unambiguously" explained their cooperation. Allegedly, the cooperative effort was conducted as part of the broader US Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and also included US assistance to Ukraine related to public health facilities, biosafety, biosecurity, and disease surveillance.

From the United Nations' end, the UN is "not aware" of any bio-weapon program in Ukraine, according to a disarmament official. "We are aware that the Russian Federation has filed an official complaint... regarding allegations of biological weapons programs in Ukraine," Adedeji Ebo, the UN's Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs told the Security Council on October 27.

"As high representative Izumi Nakamitsu informed the council in March, and May of this year the United Nations is not aware of any such biological weapons programs," he said, noting that the UN had no mandate or technical capacity to investigate.

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