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US Official Says China Is Creating Captain America-Style Biologically Enhanced Super Soldiers

US Official Says China Is Creating Captain America-Style Biologically Enhanced Super Soldiers

The director of national intelligence claimed that China 'poses the greatest threat to America today​.'

Jessica Lynch

Jessica Lynch

China is reportedly doing testing on the People's Liberation Army in order to create 'biologically enhanced' soldiers, according to a top intelligence official in the US.

John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, revealed the explosive claim in a Wall Street Journal op-ed where he claimed China 'poses the greatest threat to America today.'

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Ratcliffe said: "The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically.

PA

"Many of China's major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.

"US intelligence shows that China has even conducted human testing on members of the People's Liberation Army in hope of developing soldiers with biologically enhanced capabilities.

"There are no ethical boundaries to Beijing's pursuit of power.

"Today we must look with clear eyes at the facts in front of us, which make plain that China should be America's primary national security focus going forward.

PA

To create these super-soldiers, China is apparently utilising to CRISPR, which - according to Interesting Engineering - is a 'novel, simple but powerful tool for editing genomes.'

"CRISPR has many applications that include correcting genetic defects, treating and preventing the spread of diseases, and improving crops," the site explained.

"However, the medical tool has raised some ethical concerns. Most Western scientists consider it unethical to seek to manipulate genes to boost human performance."

The technology has been used in the past to help eliminate diseases or faulty DNA sequences in embryos and researchers are also looking into whether it can be used on adults.

It's still very much in its infancy, however if John Ratcliffe is correct then it looks like scientists are pushing the boundary of the human body.

Earlier this week, President-elect Joe Biden said he was hoping to build an alliance with China and pursue trade policies that tackle the country's 'abusive practices'.

"It's going to be a major priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies," he told the New York Times.

"The best China strategy, I think, is one which gets every one of our - or at least what used to be our - allies on the same page."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, China