According to a prominent military strategist, China is potentially advancing in the development of biological weapons, such as lethal crop destroyers and parasites, as part of a covert effort to destabilize the United States from within.

A startling report by James Kraska from the US Naval War College outlines how China might be leveraging bioweapons as an ideal means for creating ‘widespread disruption without engaging in direct conflict.’

That means no missiles, no tanks — just silent, invisible attacks designed to spark food shortages, disease outbreaks, economic ruin and mass unrest.

This warning comes in the wake of several alarming events in the United States — including the arrest of two Chinese researchers accused of attempting to smuggle a hazardous fungus into the country’s interior, and the dispatch of packages containing parasitic worms to the US by another Chinese scientist.

Earlier this year, Sun Belt residents also reported receiving unsolicited packages containing plant seeds, likely from China, in what could have been anything from an aggressive marketing campaign to a bio-attack.

These occurred amid the backdrop of studies into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic and credible claims the pathogen accidentally leaked from a state-run lab in central China, during what is known as ‘gain of function’ research.

Kraska acknowledges his fears about Chinese bio-attacks are ‘controversial and speculative’ — but they fit Beijing’s playbook of weakening foes through cyberattacks, propaganda campaigns and other stealth tactics.

The former Pentagon lawyer says China seeks to weaken America’s ‘social and political fabric’ and cause a ‘long-term erosion of power rather than immediate destruction’ of its chief global competitor.

‘As the threat from China’s asymmetric power increases, it is essential to revisit the rules governing biological warfare,’ says his report for the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington DC told the Daily Mail that Kraska’s analysis was ‘malicious speculation’, rejected his allegations, and said Beijing was vehemently opposed to biological and other mass casualty weapons.  

Beijing rejects claims about any aggressive military plans, saying it seeks peaceful cooperation with the US and other powers.

Though widely debated, a US-China war is by no means inevitable. The two countries conduct amicable and wide-ranging talks on everything from trade to developing norms on artificial intelligence (AI) and combating terrorism.

But military build-ups by the two powers, and a potential flashpoint over Taiwan — a self-governing island that the US arms and Beijing wants back under its control — mean a confrontation could be on the cards.

Kraska highlights these recent developments, saying they show how China could be laying the groundwork for bio-attacks on US farms, ranches and population centers should relations turn nasty:

• Chinese researchers Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend Zunyong Liu, 34, were in June charged with smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the US to study at the University of Michigan. The couple, both members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), were charged with conspiracy, smuggling, making false statements and visa fraud after authorities found that Liu entered the country in July 2024 with a toxic fungus stashed in his backpack. The pathogen, known as Fusarium graminearum, is a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon,’ that can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice and sicken livestock and people. The fungus is already present in the US, but there are reports that the suspect sample was ‘genetically modified’ — perhaps to make it more dangerous. FBI boss Kash Patel called the discovery a ‘sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply.’
• Days later, another Chinese research scientist, Chengxuan Han, was arrested in Detroit and charged with mailing packages containing biological material related to roundworms into the US. The worms can be harmless, but some varieties infect humans, especially children, and cause intestinal problems, coughing, pneumonia, organ damage and even blindness. Han, a doctoral student at Wuhan’s College of Life Science and Technology in the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was charged with making false statements and smuggling biological materials. She was on a yearlong research project at the University of Michigan. US Attorney Jerome Gorgon said Han’s case was part of an ‘alarming pattern that threatens our security.’
• Residents of Texas, Alabama, and New Mexico earlier this year reported receiving unmarked seed packets, often in packages covered with Chinese characters, that they had not ordered. In Texas alone, officials recovered 311 of the suspicious parcels from 64 different locations, according to the state’s Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who warned that at least one unsuspecting recipient was even sent a live plant. The seeds reportedly include vegetables, weeds, grasses, and even an invasive aquatic plant — all potentially harmful if planted in American soil, where they could wreak havoc on ecosystems and agriculture. The mystery mail outs echoed a similar event from 2020, when packets arrived in mailboxes across the country. Kraska says it’s not clear if the packages were part of a relatively harmless marketing campaign or a ‘dry run to expose US agroterrorism vulnerabilities’ for a future attack.

The timing of these threats is impossible to ignore, coming as the world continues to debate the true origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some analysts claim, with some evidence, that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology during risky ‘gain of function’ experiments — designed to boost the infectivity of viruses for research purposes.

Others say it’s more likely the virus originated naturally in a wild animal and then spilled over into people in a wildlife market in Wuhan, the sprawling capital of Hubei province. Beijing has long denied any wrongdoing.

Federal agencies have issued conflicting reports about the origins of the pandemic. A House investigation last year and Donald Trump’s White House have found that a lab leak is the most likely scenario.

Kraska is not the only expert to sound the alarm about China’s suspect bioweapon activities.

Gordon Chang, an author and China hawk, says he believes Beijing is planning a ‘biological weapons attack on America’s farms and ranches’.

In April, the US State Department’s annual arms control report also flagged shady experiments by China’s military, describing ongoing contraband and clandestine biological research that continued into 2024.

It revealed that Beijing was weaponizing some of the world’s deadliest toxins, including ricin and botulinum, and studying how to spread anthrax, cholera, plague, and tularemia in battlefield or civilian settings.

Worse still, AI computing has supercharged China’s research — allowing its scientists to design and test new bioweapons with terrifying speed and precision, said the State Department report.

For Kraska, the research appears to follow the exact script of ‘Unrestricted Warfare,’ a 1999 military manifesto written by People’s Liberation Army colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui.

The book — widely read among China’s elite — argues that ‘anything is fair game’ when battling a superior military.

It encourages tactics that exploit open societies, from cyberattacks and economic warfare to biological sabotage and disinformation campaigns.

Advocates of China, however, note how the rising Asian power touts such slogans as ‘peaceful development’ and focusses on global economic growth through such initiatives as its Belt and Road Initiative.

‘China was once a victim of biological weapons and has consistently advocated for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons of mass destruction,’ said spokesman Pengyu.

‘We firmly oppose any country developing, possessing, or using biological weapons.’

But Kraska says it’s time for the Trump administration to take action and report China under the Biological Weapons Convention, and seek an investigation through the UN Security Council.

The road ahead won’t be easy. China and ally Russia both hold veto power at the UN, making enforcement difficult.

Still, experts say raising the issue in public would pressure Beijing, rally allies, and prepare the US for what may be coming next. Kraska says the US is obligated to alert ‘other states to the unusual, if not threatening conduct’.