Pakistan rubbishes report of covert ‘bio-warfare’ deal with China

[Vanguard One]

Australia news agency said Wuhan lab was assisting Pakistan in ‘anthrax-related projects’

Published: July 26, 2020 15:02
Zubair Qureshi, Correspondent

Wuhan Institute of Virology had “set up operations in Pakistan as part of China’s broader offensive against India and Western rivals,” the report further alleged.Image Credit: Agency


Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday dismissed a report published by an Australian news agency regarding China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology conducting some alleged covert operations in the country.

Allegations of covert China-Pakistan deal in bio-warfare

A July 23 report by the said news outlet ‘The Klaxon’ while citing unnamed intelligence experts, claimed “As part of a broader offensive against India and Western rivals, Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year agreement to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax.”

Wuhan Institute of Virology had “set up operations in Pakistan as part of China’s broader offensive against India and Western rivals,” the report further alleged.


‘Distorted facts and fabrications’

The Foreign Office spokesperson dismissed the report, calling it a baseless, politically-motivated and unfounded story.

“It is composed merely of distorted facts and fabrications and doesn’t give a specific reference, rather quotes anonymous sources,” said Aisha Farooqi in a statement.

She explained that there was “nothing secret” about the Bio-Safety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory referred to in the report. She added Pakistan had been sharing information about the facility with the signatory states of the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) in its submission of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).

“The facility is meant for diagnostic and protective system improvement by research and development on emerging health threats, surveillance and disease outbreak investigation,” claimed Farooqi.

“The attempt to cast aspersions about the facility is particularly absurd against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need for better preparedness in the areas of disease surveillance and control and international collaboration in that regard, consistent with Article X of BTWC,” she added in the statement.


Pakistan abiding by international commitments
The spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan “strictly abides” by the BTWC commitments and has been “one of the most vocal supporters” for a strong verification mechanism to ensure full compliance by the states complying with the convention.

“The attempt to cast aspersions about the facility is particularly absurd against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic,” regretted the FO spokesperson adding the pandemic had highlighted the need for better preparedness in the disease surveillance and control and international collaborations in the matter which is consistent with Article X of the BTWC.

The story in ‘The Klaxon’ claimed that anthrax-like pathogens’ are being developed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology as potential biological warfare.

In April this year, the said lab came under scrutiny with the US probing whether the virus actually originated in the said lab.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...covert-bio-warfare-deal-with-china-1.72804709

 

[FuturePAF]

There needs to be a internet monitoring agency in Pakistan that keeps an eye on fake news stories and traces their origins and quickly debunks them on tv or online ASAP. This is how Eastern European countries are handling Russian propaganda and this is a tactic Pakistan should consider adopting.

Catching the earliest traces of these kinds of false stories will help point out where they are coming (internet signature identification expertise capabilities need to be built up) from and take the appropriate legal or counter-propaganda means necessary. The public needs to be educated and detecting who in our population is spreading this propaganda on purpose or inadvertently through social media or other means needs to be told to stop.

 

[Globenim]

There needs to be a internet monitoring agency in Pakistan that keeps an eye on fake news stories and traces their origins and quickly debunks them on tv or online ASAP. This is how Eastern European countries are handling Russian propaganda and this is a tactic Pakistan should consider adopting.

Catching the earliest traces of these kinds of false stories will help point out where they are coming (internet signature identification expertise capabilities need to be built up) from and take the appropriate legal or counter-propaganda means necessary. The public needs to be educated and detecting who in our population is spreading this propaganda on purpose or inadvertently through social media or other means needs to be told to stop.

It important to focus on the messengers and their handlers, who keep faciliating, fabricating and spreading lies and misinformation.

The source is some China bashing troll named Anthony Klan with a private blog. Just the typical obnoxious mouthbreather on a China bashing crusade, echoing every blatant lie and China bashing skitch with low brow sensationalism and clearly ideologically driven hate for China.
His constant effort to promote people to join his venture company make it obvious that its an irrelevant personal rant not an "Australian news agency" we are talking about. You dont "report" about world politics from you *** in your homeoffice reading Twitter, tagging Trump for attention and just following American terrorist handles. Hes apparently trying to make it big jumping on the U.S. led China bashing train.

The entire premise of the story is absurd. If his "anonymous" sources actually had a story of this importance in their pocket they wouldnt even bother talking to some dubious Twitter troll. Nobody would even think about this guy in first place.

His ridicolous fake report was obviously calculating for mouthfull Indian propaganda mouthpieces to carry it on. Leaving nothing to chance with including Pakistan into the smear. Everyone who follows this disinfo war against China knows U.S. controlled media is agressively pushing and inflating Indian propaganda against China in their media because they have even lower standards and professionalism than U.S. propaganda and will make every bullshit into a scoop.

 

[PeaceGen]

Australia news agency said Wuhan lab was assisting Pakistan in ‘anthrax-related projects’

Published: July 26, 2020 15:02
Zubair Qureshi, Correspondent

Wuhan Institute of Virology had “set up operations in Pakistan as part of China’s broader offensive against India and Western rivals,” the report further alleged.Image Credit: Agency


Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday dismissed a report published by an Australian news agency regarding China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology conducting some alleged covert operations in the country.

Allegations of covert China-Pakistan deal in bio-warfare

A July 23 report by the said news outlet ‘The Klaxon’ while citing unnamed intelligence experts, claimed “As part of a broader offensive against India and Western rivals, Pakistan and China have entered a secret three-year agreement to expand potential bio-warfare capabilities, including several research projects related to the deadly agent anthrax.”

Wuhan Institute of Virology had “set up operations in Pakistan as part of China’s broader offensive against India and Western rivals,” the report further alleged.


‘Distorted facts and fabrications’

The Foreign Office spokesperson dismissed the report, calling it a baseless, politically-motivated and unfounded story.

“It is composed merely of distorted facts and fabrications and doesn’t give a specific reference, rather quotes anonymous sources,” said Aisha Farooqi in a statement.

She explained that there was “nothing secret” about the Bio-Safety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory referred to in the report. She added Pakistan had been sharing information about the facility with the signatory states of the Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention (BTWC) in its submission of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).

“The facility is meant for diagnostic and protective system improvement by research and development on emerging health threats, surveillance and disease outbreak investigation,” claimed Farooqi.

“The attempt to cast aspersions about the facility is particularly absurd against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need for better preparedness in the areas of disease surveillance and control and international collaboration in that regard, consistent with Article X of BTWC,” she added in the statement.


Pakistan abiding by international commitments
The spokesperson reiterated that Pakistan “strictly abides” by the BTWC commitments and has been “one of the most vocal supporters” for a strong verification mechanism to ensure full compliance by the states complying with the convention.

“The attempt to cast aspersions about the facility is particularly absurd against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic,” regretted the FO spokesperson adding the pandemic had highlighted the need for better preparedness in the disease surveillance and control and international collaborations in the matter which is consistent with Article X of the BTWC.

The story in ‘The Klaxon’ claimed that anthrax-like pathogens’ are being developed by the Wuhan Institute of Virology as potential biological warfare.

In April this year, the said lab came under scrutiny with the US probing whether the virus actually originated in the said lab.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pak...covert-bio-warfare-deal-with-china-1.72804709

(1) Australians could be lying about China, a nation which they're at diplomatic war with over the South China Sea projects.
(2) i'd sooner believe anonymous sources than state-run Chinese/Pakistani media
(3) this had better not be true. to prolong the bio-warfare times is very very evil.

 

[PeaceGen]

Communist China ‘is at war with the world’ as its reputation dwindles
The Communist Party of China is “at war with the rest of the world right now” and has a dwindling reputation on the global stage according to Sky News host Peter Gleeson.

Local : 1970-01-01(Thursday) 01:00:00
Found via nicer.app/news

 

[PeaceGen]

Users should be ‘extraordinarily careful’ of TikTok
Liberal Senator Jim Molan says we should be careful with Chinese social media app TikTok for the simple fact the level of trust we can put in China is very low at the moment.

Local : 1970-01-01(Thursday) 01:00:00
Found via nicer.app/news

the Chinese are being hammered by the west from all sides at the moment, and this might influence the hardliners in Chinese leaderships to grab for the bio-warfare weapons development paths.

i recommend that they don't.

i recommend that China instead force their richer citizens to return some of the wealth that was stolen by means of unfair business practices like industrial espionage and bribery and such.

that's all the advice i can offer the Chinese at this time, but i want you all to know i'm a true friend to the Asians, who have taught me in various kung fu schools both the arts of self-defence (which is quite necessary, even in my peaceful and prosperous Netherlands) and meditation, which is needed to not go nuts in a complicated world full of daily challenges.

i'm also a true friend for any Muslim(a) who is both reasonable and patient. even their combatants who fit that discription, because you have been on the receiving end of western force ever since WW2, maybe even ever since WW1.

 

[type93]

No one can blame Pakistan for wanting to acquire bio weapons to counter 2 billion Indians who are constant massing at their borders. Winning a war is about fighting efficiently and this is the most efficient way of fighting and if there’s collateral damage, no guilt will be put on Pakistan’s side as in war, people die

 

[rambro]

Wow aussie propaganda outlets dont even try to obscure their ulterior motives anymore.

 

[PeaceGen]

No one can blame Pakistan for wanting to acquire bio weapons to counter 2 billion Indians who are constant massing at their borders. Winning a war is about fighting efficiently and this is the most efficient way of fighting and if there’s collateral damage, no guilt will be put on Pakistan’s side as in war, people die

you are a crazy, paranoid, little man..

discussing anything with you is pointless.

 

[RadioactiveFriends]

China and Pakistan were once again victimised by a fake news information warfare attack late last month that was clearly connected to the Indian intelligence services. An Australian “investigative journalism” website called The Klaxon released a “report” alleging that the two were secretly conspiring with one another to create banned biological weapons, coincidentally at the Wuhan laboratory that’s been in the news quite a lot ever since the Covid-19 outbreak sparked theories that it actually originated at that facility.

The outlet claimed to have been fed this tip by “highly credible intelligence sources”, including what they described as one “senior intelligence source”. More specifically, they said that some of these supposed sources also came from “the Indian subcontinent”, which says all that’s needed about the origin of this fake news scandal. Nothing in the “report” itself is substantiated, and it instead reads like a poorly written press release from India’s infamous “Research and Analysis Wing” (RAW, their version of the CIA and Mossad).

That’s actually why the story never took off in the first place since it was so obvious that it was a fake news information warfare attack by China and Pakistan’s chief rival. Some outlets such as India’s ANI, Russia’s Sputnik, and the US’ Voice of America picked it up, though all but the Indian ones soon realised that this was a hoax once Pakistan officially denied the claims. Truth be told, this was a rather poor information warfare attack by India, one that was so shoddy as to raise serious questions about RAW’s relevant capabilities.

The pretext itself was compelling enough. According to the false narrative, China was secretly creating banned biological weapons at the Wuhan facility together with Pakistan. This played to what many people across the world had been preconditioned to believe after over seven months of the US’ incessant information warfare against China since the start of the global Covid-19 outbreak. By releasing these claims through Australian media, RAW presumably thought that it could obscure its role in this fake news attack against its rivals.

The problem, however, was that the “report” itself mentioned India so many times that any objective reader would immediately grow suspicious about its role in this story, especially since the Australian outlet specifically said that some of the so-called “sources” were from “the Indian subcontinent”. It’s no secret that India has quite a few problems with both China and Pakistan, so the Indian trace makes one question the intentions and veracity of the so-called “intelligence” that The Klaxon received from RAW.

It was easy enough to realise that this was an information warfare attack using fake news and that’s why practically all international media stopped talking about it after that weekend once Pakistan predictably denied the story. Sometimes weekends are slow news days and unverified but nevertheless “exciting” stories such as this one serve as convenient content for editors to promote during these times. It didn’t have to be that way had RAW put more effort into this latest fake news provocation since it might then have been a bit more successful.

The Achilles’ heel of these claims weren’t just that they were hearsay since even that’s capable of sparking a major story nowadays no matter how false it may be, but that Indian intelligence couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make their role known in fabricating this news. Had they kept their egos in check and demanded that the Australian outlet not make any mention of them or their country, then having this third party release the fake news story might have made it more believable instead of throwing everything about it into doubt.

Professionally speaking, it was extremely poor form for RAW to so obviously hint that it played a role in this information provocation. That speaks to how low morale must be in that agency that the decision was made to not remove any trace to the story but instead make it an important part of the accusations. Despite whatever Indians and their international supporters might claim, Chinese and Pakistani intelligence agencies would never produce such a shoddy example of fake news, nor make it so obvious where it came from.

https://tribune.com.pk//article/971...eapons-hoax-was-a-shoddy-example-of-fake-news

 

[LeGenD]

Thread moved to appropriate section.