Radio France International reported that Major General Chen Wei, China’s chief biochemical weapon defense expert, took over the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, China’s first Biocontainment Level 4 (BL4) lab (Chinese call it a P4 lab) in Wuhan, after the coronavirus outbreak. A news report on February 7 mentioned that she had been in Wuhan for over ten days, so she probably took over the P4 lab around the same time as Wuhan locked down the city (on January 23, 2020).
Radio France International also reported that China requested France to help it build this lab in 2003. Despite the warning from its Intelligence offices that China could use it to develop biochemical weapons, France still signed the agreement with China on 2004. The agreement stated that Beijing should not apply the technology to activities of an attacking nature.
In 2005, China designated a local company IPPR in Wuhan to manage the project. That company had close ties with some units affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA); the CIA had been monitoring those units.
It is unclear whether Beijing has honored its promise not to develop biochemical weapons at the lab. A government official in France told news reporters that China has broken its promises several times in the past. For example, China promised to build only one lab, but now it has built several and some labs look suspicious.
Related postings on Chinascope:
- Virus Origin: Henan Province Issued an Order to Safely Manage Laboratory Animals
- Leadership: Xi Stressed Biosafety as Part of National Security System
- Virus Origin: SARS Virus Was Leaked in Beijing in 2004
- Virus Origin: Genome Analysis of the New Wuhan Coronavirus Found Viral Sequences Suspicious of Laboratory Engineering
1. Excerpt in Chinese:
中国首席生化武器防御专家陈薇少将日前已经接管了武汉P4病毒实验室。此举揭示武汉P4病毒实验室可能与军方的关联。这种关联令外界之前担心中国军队在武汉P4开发生化武器显得并非毫无由来。
据微博豆瓣昨天2月7日的消息说，陈薇少将已在武汉10多天。她接管P4实验室犹如一枚“定心丸”。该文介绍说，陈薇将军是中国首席生化武器防御专家，是军事医学科学院科学院生物工程研究所所长。
Source: Radio France International, February 8, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200208-中国首席生化武器专家陈薇少将接管武汉p4病毒实验室
2. Excerpt in Chinese:
2003年，中国科学院就向法国政府提出协助中国开设同类病毒研究中心的要求。中方的要求在法国曾经引发法国政府以及病毒专家们之间的分歧，因为尽管中国病毒中心可以打击突发传染病，但法国有专家担心中方会使用法国提供的技术来研制化学武器，法国情报部门当时向政府提出严正警告。
但是在时任总理拉法兰的支持下，中法双方终于于2004年希拉克访华期间签署了合作协议。法国将协助中国建设P4病毒中心，但协议规定北京不能将此技术用于攻击性的活动。
法国对外安全总局指出，法国里昂的一家建筑设计所RTV原定负责该实验室的工程，但2005年中国官方选择武汉当地设计所IPPR（中元国际工程有限公司？）负责工程，而根据法国安全部门的调查，IPPR设计所与中国军队下属部门有密切关联，这些部门早已是美国中央情报部门的监督目标。
武汉病毒实验室被认可从事三类病毒的研究：埃博拉，刚果-克里米亚出血热以及尼帕病毒。
法国当初是否应该协助中国修建P4实验室？中方是否遵守了当初的承诺？如果说，武汉P4实验室负责人肯定该项目将帮助亚洲乃至全世界更加有效地对抗流行病毒的话，法国政府内部却并不一致赞同上述观点。有政府官员向记者表示，中方在十多年的合作过程中多次违背承诺，比如说，中方当初承诺仅仅在武汉修建唯一的一个实验室，而今天发现，中方已经修建了多个实验室，而且某些实验室十分可疑。
Source: Radio France International, January 25, 2020
http://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20200125-法媒揭露引发争议的中法武汉病毒实验室p4合作项目