NYT Editorial: Xi Jinping Feared U.S. Could Engineer A Disease To Target Him

Photo: Former President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before a meeting at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The New York Times, in an editorial headlined "This Is the Future of War," reports that Chinese leader Xi Jinping privately worried the United States might be able to engineer a disease aimed specifically at him. The editorial recounts a striking moment during a Nov. 15, 2023 meeting between President Joe Biden and Xi at a mansion south of San Francisco.

According to the Times, after a working lunch the two leaders rose to leave and one of Xi’s aides signaled to a bodyguard, who then produced a small bottle and quickly sprayed down every surface Xi had touched, including the remnants of an almond meringue dessert.

"The purpose, the Americans concluded, was to remove any trace of Mr. Xi’s DNA that his hosts might collect and exploit," an official who attended the meeting told the paper. "This is the way they’re thinking—that you could design a disease that would only affect one person."

The editorial places that anecdote in a broader warning about rapidly advancing technologies. The Times cites national security experts who point to a range of emerging capabilities that could reshape warfare: coordinated swarms of robotic aircraft; cyberweapons that could cripple militaries or national infrastructure; and bioengineered weapons—potentially designed with the aid of artificial intelligence—targeted to individuals with specific genetic markers.

The piece also references related media accounts. For example, The New York Post reported earlier this fall that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to China with a personal toilet, reportedly intended to protect his DNA and health information, and that aides were seen meticulously cleaning meeting rooms used during visits with other world leaders.

Why It Matters

The Times cautions that while some of these threats remain speculative today, others may already be in development. The editorial emphasizes uncertainty—veteran experts point to different technologies as the most consequential—and calls attention to how advances in AI, biotechnology, robotics, and cyber capabilities could intersect to create novel and highly targeted threats.

Whether or not the U.S. or any other state is pursuing weapons that target individuals, the episode described by the Times highlights growing anxieties among world leaders about protecting biological and genetic information. The editorial urges policymakers to grapple with these emerging risks and to consider new norms, safeguards, and international cooperation to address them.