{"id":145102,"date":"2021-02-18T10:53:07","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=145102"},"modified":"2021-02-18T10:58:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:58:03","slug":"human-experimentation-and-gene-editing-inside-chinas-race-to-create-genetically-modified-soldiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/human-experimentation-and-gene-editing-inside-chinas-race-to-create-genetically-modified-soldiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Experimentation And Gene-Editing: Inside China\u2019s Race To Create Genetically Modified Soldiers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhuman-experimentation-and-gene-editing-inside-chinas-race-to-create-genetically-modified-soldiers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=145102&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-73665418.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Two months ago, John Ratcliffe, the head of America\u2019s intelligence community, revealed that the Chinese Communist Party is developing biologically enhanced soldiers.<\/p>\n<p><span>In a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/china-is-national-security-threat-no-1-11607019599\"><span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/a> <span>op-ed entitled \u201cChina Is National Security Threat No. 1.,\u201d Ratcliffe told readers that \u201cresisting Beijing\u2019s attempt to reshape and dominate the world is the challenge of our generation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Ratcliffe \u2014 who, until the inauguration of President Biden, was<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intelligence.gov\/index.php\/how-the-ic-works\/our-organizations\/409-odni\"><span>responsible<\/span><\/a> <span>for presenting the President\u2019s daily top-secret intelligence brief \u2014 American intelligence assets know that \u201cChina has even conducted human testing on members of the People\u2019s Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically,\u201d explained Ratcliffe. \u201cMany of China\u2019s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ratcliffe detailed the Chinese government\u2019s \u201crob, replicate and replace\u201d strategy of stealing intellectual property from American companies and universities.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThere are no ethical boundaries to Beijing\u2019s pursuit of power,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>A decade of bioethics breaches<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>The willingness of Chinese researchers to cross ethical lines has accelerated alongside advances in genomics and bioengineering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>One year before the publication of Ratcliffe\u2019s op-ed<\/span> <span>\u2014<\/span> <span>which was the first public revelation that China is augmenting military personnel<\/span> <span>\u2014<\/span> <span>China Cyber and Intelligence Studies Institute co-founder<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/cset.georgetown.edu\/staff\/elsa-kania\/\"><span>Elsa Kania<\/span><\/a> <span>and national security consultant<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/voices\/wilson-vorndick\/14943\/\"><span>Wilson VornDick<\/span><\/a> <span>publ<\/span><span>ished a comprehensive report hinting at China\u2019s attempts to use biotechnology for military applications.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the time, Kania and VornDick\u2019s report acknowledged Chinese military applications of genomics as \u201conly a hypothetical possibility,\u201d though they noticed definitive synergies among China\u2019s \u201cmilitary, academic, and commercial\u201d sectors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kania and VornDick wrote for the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/jamestown.org\/program\/chinas-military-biotech-frontier-crispr-military-civil-fusion-and-the-new-revolution-in-military-affairs\/\"><span>Jamestown Foundation<\/span><\/a> <span>that leaders within the People\u2019s Liberation Army consider bioengineering the \u201cnew strategic commanding heights of the future Revolution in Military Affairs.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For the past ten years, Chinese officials have repeatedly floated the potential intersection between warfare and biotechnology. Guo Jiwei \u2014 senior colonel of the PLA\u2019s Third Military Medical University \u2014 published a book entitled \u201cWar for Biological Dominance\u201d in 2010. Major General He Fuchu \u2014 vice president of the PLA\u2019s Academy of Military Sciences \u2014 said in 2017 that the integration of genomics, information, and cognitive domains will have \u201crevolutionary influences upon weapons and equipment.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Jamestown Foundation paper added that China is an emerging leader in the use of CRISPR, an emerging gene-editing technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>CRISPR \u2014 which stands for \u201cclustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats\u201d \u2014 was developed by an American company called<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.crisprtx.com\/gene-editing\/crispr-cas9\"><span>CRISPR Therapeutics<\/span><\/a><span>. The technology locates a specific gene segment and employs \u201cmolecular scissors\u201d to splice the appropriate DNA strand. The process can \u201cmodify, delete or correct precise regions of our DNA.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is unclear how Chinese military officials are currently using gene-editing technology. However, the Jamestown Foundation paper highlights several well-documented Chinese research applications of CRISPR \u2014 applications that unreservedly leap over ethical lines, often to the disdain of Western scientists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two Chinese companies have genetically modified animals for sale as novelty pets. BGI \u2014 formerly known as Beijing Genomics Inc. \u2014 created \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/news\/gene-edited-micropigs-to-be-sold-as-pets-at-chinese-institute-1.18448\"><span>micro-pigs<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d as a byproduct of their genomics research. Karia and VornDick wrote that Beijing Xinuo Valley Biotechnology cloned dogs to be sold as pets and police assets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In 2015, Chinese scientists used CRISPR to modify more canines, including a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2015\/10\/19\/165740\/first-gene-edited-dogs-reported-in-china\/\"><span>beagle<\/span><\/a> <span>with double the amount of typical muscle mass. Liangxue Lai \u2014 a researcher with the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health \u2014 told<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2015\/10\/19\/165740\/first-gene-edited-dogs-reported-in-china\/\"><span>MIT Technology Review<\/span><\/a> <span>that the dogs have \u201cmore muscles and are expected to have stronger running ability, which is good for hunting, police (military) applications.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cDogs are very close to humans in terms of metabolic, physiological, and anatomical characteristics,\u201d he added.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Chinese scientists hardly skipped a beat as they applied similar experimentation to humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Researchers at Sun Yat-Sen University made the global scientific community uneasy after they<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2015\/04\/22\/110636\/chinese-team-reports-gene-editing-human-embryos\/\"><span>announced<\/span><\/a> <span>the first removal of a blood disease from human embryos in 2015. The scientists used CRISPR technology on more than 80 embryos obtained from an in vitro fertilization clinic. Yangyang Cheng \u2014 a postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University \u2014 highlighted the effort in a<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2018\/04\/13\/china-will-always-be-bad-at-bioethics\/\"><span>Foreign Policy<\/span><\/a> <span>article entitled \u201cChina Will Always Be Bad at Bioethics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Chinese scientists have also turned their attention to gene editing techniques that boost human cognitive abilities. A team at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen recruited couples in an effort to<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2018\/11\/25\/138962\/exclusive-chinese-scientists-are-creating-crispr-babies\/\"><span>create<\/span><\/a> <span>babies immune to HIV, smallpox, and cholera. By early 2019, the researchers succeeded in creating HIV immunity in twin girls by deleting the gene CCR5, though the leader of the initiative<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/12\/30\/792340177\/chinese-researcher-who-created-gene-edited-babies-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison\"><span>earned<\/span><\/a> <span>himself a short prison sentence in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A few years earlier, Alcino Silva \u2014 a UCLA neurobiologist \u2014 discovered that the removal of CCR5 in mice led to enhanced intelligence. He suspected that this was the goal of the Chinese researchers all along.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI suddenly realized \u2014 Oh, holy shit, they are really serious about this bullshit,\u201d<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2019\/02\/21\/137309\/the-crispr-twins-had-their-brains-altered\/\"><span>said<\/span><\/a> <span>Dr. Silva when he heard about the twins\u2019 birth. \u201cMy reaction was visceral repulsion and sadness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>An Uncertain Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>Though foreign policy experts are by no means surprised that China is experimenting with genomics\u2019 military applications, the extent to which they will meaningfully alter the future of global conflict is still unclear.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.org\/aboutus\/person_detail.asp?id=487\"><span>Ivan Eland<\/span><\/a><span>, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute and director of its Center on Peace and Liberty, certainly maintains this sentiment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe project does seem like something the Chinese communists would undertake, but I am skeptical of its decisive impact on the battlefield,\u201d he explained to The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Likewise,<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudson.org\/experts\/1303-bryan-clark\"><span>Bryan Clark<\/span><\/a> <span>\u2014<\/span> <span>director of the Hudson Institute\u2019s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology<\/span> <span>\u2014<\/span> <span>suspects that gene editing will have a limited impact on warfare in the short run.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe U.S. government funds research that involves CRISPR and other genetic therapies, but experimentation is limited to animals or medical use treating specific illnesses in humans,\u201d Clark told The Daily Wire. Though the United States government has explored the use of other biotechnology such as drugs and supplements to enhance human performance, \u201cgene editing by itself\u2026 will have a limited ability to improve performance at least in the near-term.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cMost human characteristics result from the impact of multiple genes, and often the genes involved and their interrelationships are not well understood,\u201d he added. \u201cEpigenetic factors such as environment or developmental influences during childhood are also important drivers of human performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Clark sees a greater potential for the use of machine interfaces in enhancing performance on the battlefield.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c<\/span><span>This is probably the area from which performance advancements are most likely to emerge, since the operation of the human side of the technology is better understood compared to genetics,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to Eland, China\u2019s efforts to harness biotechnology could nevertheless \u201ccause other authoritarian countries to experiment with it too.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Clark agrees, noting that CRISPR and other gene editing technologies \u201care widely understood and accessible,\u201d thereby presenting \u201ca lower barrier to entry than machine interfaces.\u201d Still, CRISPR presents \u201cmore risk of unintended consequences and is less likely to produce useful results in terms of performance enhancement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>American Response<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span>Accounting for all factors, both experts predict that the United States can compete with China while staying within the bounds of bioethical norms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe U.S. should not engage in a symmetric competition with China in human genetic experimentation,\u201d said Clark. \u201cSetting common ethical standards and rules is important, which the U.S. works to establish globally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Given America\u2019s present military dominance, Eland also believes that the United States has no need to breach bioethical standards to counter the Chinese threat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe United States has been so dominant in cumulative military spending over the decades compared to China and every other known great power that we have so many other battlefield advantages,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are the most powerful military in world history, both absolutely and relative to other nations.\u201d&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Indeed, the United States<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/defense-spending-by-country-us-china-russia-ddbcdba1-6926-434a-87d4-a8794318f3a6.html\"><span>spent<\/span><\/a> <span>$732 billion on its military in 2019<\/span> <span>\u2014<\/span> <span>nearly three times more than China\u2019s $261 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>President Biden and his intelligence team have not issued a statement about the information revealed by Ratcliffe\u2019s op-ed. The<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-55905354\"><span>BBC<\/span><\/a> <span>asked Avril Haines \u2014 a former CIA deputy director and President Biden\u2019s new Director of National Intelligence \u2014 if she shares the assessment of her predecessor with respect to China\u2019s genetic augmentation of soldiers. Her office told the outlet that she has not yet commented.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Haines<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/news\/world\/articles\/2021-01-19\/biden-intelligence-pick-to-call-for-tough-scrutiny-of-china-source-says\"><span>told<\/span><\/a> <span>members of the United States Senate during her confirmation hearing that an \u201caggressive\u201d strategy toward China is necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cOur approach to China has to evolve and essentially meet the reality of the particularly assertive and aggressive China that we see today,\u201d she said. \u201cI do support an aggressive stance, in a sense, to deal with the challenge that we are facing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two months ago, John Ratcliffe, the head of America\u2019s intelligence community, revealed that the Chinese Communist Party is developing biologically enhanced soldiers. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled \u201cChina &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2181473,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-73665418.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Human Experimentation And Gene-Editing: Inside China\u2019s Race To Create Genetically Modified Soldiers","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-73665418.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Human Experimentation And Gene-Editing: Inside China\u2019s Race To Create Genetically Modified Soldiers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2181473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}