Yes, as long as. So - once the process for making the buggers is published, how can we make sure nobody will make em WITHOUT observing proper containment procedures?

Here's a thought: Suppose some day we're faced with an army of 10-foot tall Charles Manson clones with chainsaws for arms! What would we do? Don't know? Well then, I guess we'd better head for the lab and create a few so we can TRY to figure out a way to stop them - and then of course, we'll print a magazine article with detailed instructions on how to do it. It's science! What could possibly go wrong?!? Folks, H5N1 isn't just a scientific curiosity; it is a killer with its own agenda, and it doesn't give two farts what its inventors have in mind. History has shown us that influenza requires no human encouragement to ravage us. Am I sick of the government censoring things? Yes - but I'm also just plain sick. I am, literally, ill right now with a virus. I know I'm going to get well, but right now I can easily imagine: "What if I wasn't? Suppose I knew that my illness it would only get steadily worse until I died in horrible misery - and that by my very presence, I would endanger the lives of everyone close to me?" Personally, I can imagine nothing more terrifying. I'd rather live next door to a nuclear power plant than live anywhere in the same planetary atmosphere as just one instance of highly-contagious H5N1. Influenza doesn't care if it evolved naturally or if it's shepherded into existence by a Nobel laureate, or cooked up a captive scientist working for terrorists, or brewed by a scientifically-gifted but delusional fanatic who believes God wants him to cleanse the world with a plague. It's a WMD that requires neither missile nor bomb to disperse; a "suicide bomber" need only infect himself, then get onto a bus or plane and sneeze on everyone.

...and the one thing the Chinese government values above all else is its own power. More than economic prosperity, more than public health, more than national prestige - the Chinese government treasures its own continuous reign.

Hear hear. This is precisely the issue. The business model on which the recording industry (not to mention the film and TV industries) is based is already obsolete. Their model relies upon being able to maintain almost perfect control over distribution of their product. That control used to be based on everyday consumers LACKING the means to distribute copies themselves. When virtually nobody had the means to press vinyl LPs, and cassette tapes sounded mostly crappy - their business model worked well. In retrospect, mere radio (wireless, packaging-free, nearly cost-free delivery of their product) ought to have alerted them nearly a century ago to just how tenuous this business model was... Now that their fundamental assumption has become invalid, they seek to legislate an artificial 'propping up' of their existing, massive-profit model. It's akin to requiring automobile owners to buy at least one buggy whip per car, per year, lest the whip-makers suffer a loss of profit...