In recent years the cooperation between our countries has developed very effectively in a variety of industries. And it is unexplainable, why does Astana take such steps that can cause nothing but surprise and indignation, using the existing warm and trusting relations between Beijing and Astana.

Now the Government of Kazakhstan deliberately hides an unfavorable epizootic situation in the country, which, according to Chinese experts, is caused by unprofessionalism of the Kazakh Ministry of Agriculture. This concerns such a dangerous sphere of its activity as ensuring biological safety. Such situation is doubly dangerous due to the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19 coronavirus, which revealed numerous vulnerabilities in the national systems of ensuring biological safety of different states.

Already in 2016, the outbreak of nodular dermatitis had occurred in Atyrau region of Kazakhstan. In 2017-2018, the Expert Council under the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan has decided to prevent further development of cattle disease and to conduct its vaccination using vaccine “LUMPIVAX” produced by the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute - KEVEVAPI (Nairobi, Kenya).

It is indicative that this drug is prohibited for the use in many countries of the world due to the fact that it contains the so-called “hot strain”, which causes strong post-vaccination complications and which is released into the environment and leads to long-term infection of farms, pastures, slaughterhouses and further the formation of long-term stable infection site in the future.

For these reasons, the Russian Federation doesn’t use the vaccine “LUMPIVAX” categorically, which works closely with China in the field of biosafety.

But it is still used in Kazakhstan, which has already led to the spread of the virus from the sites of primary outbreaks at the borders of the republic to the interior of the country. And in mid-February 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered for an urgent suspension of vaccination with the drug “LUMPIVAX” and the disposal of vaccine stocks in the regions where it was delivered.

Thus, non-professional actions of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan led to an unfavorable epizootic situation in the country, which the officials of this agency hide from the International Office of Epizootics (OIE) and major trading partners and states, including China.

Kazakhstan has an urgent need to purchase and use the latest safe vaccines, and there is no such production facility on its territory. But, instead of addressing to their partners for help, Astana continues not only to hide the situation, but also tries to buy a sadly proven Kenyan vaccine “LUMPIVAX” via indirect means and starts using it under the brand of its domestic development.

The reason of this behavior is explained. The vaccine purchase in other states even in small batches will lead to fact publicity of circulation of nodular dermatitis virus, which will oblige Kazakhstan to notify the scale and areas of the disease distribution in the order established by international law.

Currently, the huge Chinese food market has not acute, but still shortage of products, including meat due to the strained relations between Beijing and Washington and the sanctions policy applied by the Americans. Because of this, many countries are justifiably seeking to take the U.S. place in the market for food imported by China, which is logical and understandable. But is it necessary to use such methods as misleading and even direct deception?