China News Service, Beijing, April 1 (Reporter Li Jingze Zhang Su) Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian hosted a regular press conference on April 1.
A reporter asked: According to reports, recently, the Russian side has repeatedly spoken out on the issue of biological military activities carried out by the United States in Ukraine, claiming that the relevant activities violated the "Biological Weapons Convention" and designated the laboratories established by the United States around Russia as "biological warfare experiments." "Room", emphasizing that more and more evidence shows that the United States has carried out synthetic biology research for military purposes in Ukraine, and hopes that the parties to the Convention will conduct consultations on compliance issues and investigate possible violations.
What is China's comment?
Zhao Lijian: I have noticed relevant reports and the US has not responded constructively to Russia's accusations.
The United States is the country with the most biomilitary activities in the world, and the only country that opposes the establishment of a multilateral verification mechanism.
The international community has every reason to question the US biomilitary activities.
As a party to the Biological Weapons Convention, the United States is obliged to abide by the provisions of the Convention, and it is also obliged to cooperate in addressing the concerns of the international community through clarifications and consultations.
We welcome the fair, objective and professional assessment by the international community of the documents disclosed by the Russian side under the framework of the Biological Weapons Convention and the United Nations, including hearing clarifications from the US side.
The international community will have its own public opinion on the US compliance.
We expect a constructive response from the US to restore the confidence of the international community in its implementation of the treaty.
I would also like to stress that the U.S. side is at every turn, accusing other countries of non-compliance, demanding other countries to accept verification, taking the opportunity to impose illegal unilateral sanctions, and even circumventing the UN Security Council by using force without conclusive evidence.
On the other hand, when it comes to its own compliance, the US has attempted to deal with it, which is unacceptable.
Compliance or not is a matter of international peace and security, and cannot be defined by the United States alone using double standards.
At the same time, "verification to ensure compliance" is an international consensus.
Establishing a verification mechanism is the best way to ensure the authority and effectiveness of various treaties in the field of arms control and disarmament. The field of biosecurity should not be an exception, nor should it be stopped because of the opposition of the United States.
The U.S. side should stop exclusively obstructing the restart of the BWC verification protocol negotiation.
(over)