24 BEIJING REVIEW MARCH 26, 2020 http://www.bjreview.com
NATION
P
an Xubin, a scientist at the Chinese
Academy of Inspection and Quarantine
in Beijing, uses the fall armyworm as an
example to demonstrate why that plant Tuar-
antine is so important. The insect originated in
the Americas and has spread to Africa and Asia,
devouring rice, corn and vegetables. The peril
has aroused people’s awareness of biosafety,
Pan told Beijing Review.
Plant Tuarantine is necessary to prevent
plant diseases, dangerous insects and weeds
from spreading from one country to another.
It is conducted by inspecting all imported
plant products, packages and their means of
transport.
Plant Tuarantine is part of a draft bio-
safety law, the first of its kind, being reviewed
by Chinese legislators. The law is to protect
biological resources, promote the healthy
development of biotechnology and prevent
biological threats, with an ultimate goal of pro-
tecting people’s life and health.
In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus
pandemic, the government stresses that bio-
security should be integrated into the national
security system and is accelerating the formula-
tion of a law.
Highlights of the draft
On February 14, President Xi Jinping said bio-
safety should be integrated into the national
security system. A systematic plan should be
made to construct a national biological safe-
ty risk prevention and control system, and
the national biosafety governance capacity
should be enhanced.
The government made these decisions
“from the perspective of protecting people’s
health, safeguarding national security and
maintaining long-term stability,” said Wu
Qian, a spokesperson for the Information
OfĶ ce of the Ministry of National Defense, at
a press conference in Beijing on March 2.
The draft of the biosecurity law was
submitted to the Standing Committee of
the National People’s Congress, China’s top
legislative body, for review last October. For
better balance between security and de-
velopment, it has spelled out regulations in
eight categories. These include prevention
and control of major emerging infectious dis-
eases for human as well as animal and plant
epidemics, research and development and
application of biotechnology, and preventionof bioterrorism attacks.
The draft also defines the rights and
obligations of public administration depart-
ments, social organizations and individuals.
Besides, it proposes establishing a man-
agement mechanism to protect national
biological resources and human genetic re-
sources. Building national biosafety capacity
is also addressed. Industry insiders say this
will subseTuently promote industrial, scien-
tiĶ c and technological policies to encourage
independent innovation. This is especially
significant for progress in core biotechnol-
ogy, filling the gap between China and
developed countries. It will also enhance the
capability to prevent biosecurity risks and
threats.
The work on drafting a comprehensive
law actually began 20 years ago, according
to Yu Wenxuan, Director of the Institute of
Environmental and Resources Law at the
China University of Political Science and Law
in Beijing. But it did not move fast. Besides
the complexity of the problems the law
sought to resolve, people generally lacked
an understanding of biosecurity at that time.
Also, there was a lot of coordination to do,A New
Biosecurity
Shield
China sSeeds uS legislation on biosafety in the wake of the novel
coronavirus Sandemic By Li Qing
A staff member from the
Environment and Plant Protection
Research Institute of the Chinese
Academy of Tropical Agricultural
Sciences sprays pesticide in a corn
Ķ eld in Danzhou, Hainan Province
in south China, on March 7XIN
HU
A