BEIJING, March 14./TASS/. China’s authorities have urged the US to demonstrate transparency on the recently-unearthed biological laboratories in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian told a briefing on Monday.
"Military biological activity in Ukraine has raised alarm throughout the global community," the diplomat insisted.
According to the recently publicized data, "there are dozens of biolabs in Ukraine that operate under the instructions of the US Department of Defense," Zhao Lijian said, stressing that "the US poured over $200 million into these labs".
"The Americans have always trumpeted what they call openness and transparency," he went on to say. "If the Americans claim that this information is false, then why not publish detailed information and thereby prove their integrity?" he asked. "If the US wants to prove its openness, then why not open these biological labs to an independent probe by international experts?" the diplomat argued.
Earlier, Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops Igor Kirillov informed that a network of over 30 biological laboratories was set up in Ukraine, contracted by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). According to Kirillov, on February 24, all these laboratories received an order from the Ukrainian Health Ministry to completely dispose of biological agents stockpiled in those laboratories.