#ChinaCovidPanic: Chinese misinformation war on Covid; China to set up ‘a line of separation’ at Everest summit

World

The role of China in plunging the world into a crisis is again hitting the headlines. In a recent development, the debate over biological warfare has ensued after Chinese documents have reportedly revealed that Chinese military scientists had discussed the weaponisation of SARS coronavirus, way back in 2015. Accessed by US state department, the documents include the writings of Chinese public health officials along with Chinese military scientists and find the mention of an ominous ‘a third world war to be fought with biological weapons’.

According to Tom Tugendhat MP and Australian politician James Paterson, the paper poses serious questions about China’s openness about Covid-19’s roots. Tugendhat, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said that China’s apparent involvement in the bioweapons is highly worrying. These weapons are dangerous even under the most stringent controls. Pulitzer prize winner American Journalist Barton Gellman had once said, “In the field of biological weapons, there is almost no prospect of detecting a pathogen until it has been used in an attack.”

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Though China had earlier lashed out at Australian Media before when it questioned China about its handling of the virus, the exposed documents are sure to have some ramifications on how the debate unfolds. The finding of documents also coincides with China’s panicked response to rising cases of Covid-19 in Nepal. In a bid to secure its country from Covid infections, China will apparently create “a line of separation” at the summit of Mount Everest to prevent climbers from COVID-affected Nepal from mixing with those ascending from the Tibetan side, according to Chinese state media.

The surfacing of the documents has again posed some serious questions on the origin of Covid-19, a question that China has always demurred to answer. China always functions in mysterious ways. Though, the country’s aspiration in global politics is not a mystery because it exudes the insidious ambition of a country that has always preferred keeping its eerie internal functioning unknown to the world. China was also recently called out for touting India’s purchase of COVID relief from China as a grant from the Chinese side.