BGI Group

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2021: Chinese Army collects genetic data through BGI Group to create super soldiers

In July 2021, it became known that the Army China is collecting genetic data to create super-soldiers. Government advisers USA warned that the huge bank genomic data that BGI Group collects and analyzes with artificial intelligence help could give China a path not only to economic but also military advantage.

Since science reveals various new connections between genes and human traits, access to the largest and most diverse set of human genomes is a strategic advantage for any state. According to American advisers, this technology can contribute to China's dominance in world pharmaceuticals, as well as potentially lead to the creation of genetically improved soldiers or engineered pathogens to affect the US population or food supplies.

China's army collects genetic data with BGI Group to create super soldiers

DNA data collected from prenatal tests in women outside China were also stored in a Chinese government-funded gene database, one of the largest in the world, the company confirmed. The BGI Group, in which the Shenzhen city government and Beijing's largest state investment fund received shares in 2014, directly manages this gene bank.

In a 2019 decree, Beijing clearly indicated that genetic data may be a matter of national security of the state, and since 2015 has limited access by foreign researchers to the genetic data of their citizens. In contrast, the US and UK provide foreign researchers with access to genetic data as part of open science policies.

Other companies in this area selling prenatal tests also reuse the data for research. But none of them works on such a large scale as the BGI Group, say scientists and ethics experts from different countries.

News that the BGI Group has developed prenatal tests together with the PLA appeared at a time when the international community is increasingly paying attention to China's use of civilian technologies for military modernization. NATO warned that China's assertive behavior is a systemic challenge, and Beijing has drawn sanctions for alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang and intensified the suppression of national security in Hong Kong.

It is worth noting that the BGI Group is a key player in the genomics race between China and the United States. In its latest annual report, the company said it was working hard to advance Chinese technology, Chinese experience, and Chinese standards to reach the global level.^[1]

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