A health care worker is administering a Covid-19 vaccine at a massive vaccination center in Beijing on January 15.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
Photographer: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on China to be more transparent with the science behind its coronavirus vaccination.
It is not clear whether Chinese vaccine developers are adopting general standards, as details of their vaccinations are less available than those of Western drugmakers, Macron said during an online panel discussion on Thursday to celebrate the opening of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center.
Emmanuel Macron in Paris, on February 4th.
Photographer: Ludovic Marin / AFP / Getty Images
“I have absolutely no information,” Macron said. “It looks like we may have more information on the Russian vaccines,” he said, referring to a study published in the Lancet and Russia’s initiatives to register the Sputnik V vaccine with the European Medicines Agency.
China has sought to expand its geopolitical influence through vaccine diplomacy. It added another vaccination to its arsenal this month when late-stage trials in Brazil showed that the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine provided significant protection against Covid-19. But a lack of timely and clear disclosure by Chinese developers has contributed to the caution of their shots.
This is a ‘clear diplomatic success,’ Macron said, describing China’s efficiency in producing and exporting doses worldwide as “a little humiliating for us.”
With the EU leaving the US and UK behind with the administration of the shots, Macron defends the European Union’s approach of buying vaccines together to avoid a race between member states. He also puts pressure on drugmakers to increase their efforts to produce life-saving vaccines in France.
“Systemic competitors”
An official in Macron’s office, who asked not to be named under the protocol, said this week that French President and Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to welcome any vaccinations that met EU standards, and that geopolitics plays no role. The remark comes in response to a question as to whether Macron would consider buying the Sputnik V vaccine, which Merkel says is ready to use in Germany.
During the discussion on Thursday, Macron described a recent EU-China investment agreement as ‘not a giant deal’, saying it did not address intellectual property issues. The agreement was seen as the latest sign that Europeans wanted to diversify alliances with Donald Trump in the White House after four tense years – and one that could make it difficult for the US and the EU to agree on a common strategy in dealing with China. to vote. .
By emphasizing the concerns of this concern, Macron highlighted the general history and values that bind Europe and the US, which he says is not a ‘systemic competitor’, unlike China.
Macron was the first EU country leader to speak to Joe Biden after his inauguration in January. He said he welcomed the president’s promise to work closely with traditional allies and return to the international forums that Trump has abandoned, such as the Paris climate treaty and the World Health Organization.
Although Macron is trying to return to multilateralism, he clearly does not expect a complete transformation of the EU-US relationship. Decisions made in Washington are driven by national interest, Macron said, which “can not be exactly the same as European.”
The French leader reiterates his call for reform of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, especially in light of Turkey’s intervention in Syria, and says NATO forces must maintain interoperability.
Macron is expected to take the lead on the mainland and in the trans-Atlantic relationship when Merkel leaves after Germany holds elections in September and France takes over the rotating EU presidency in 2022. resulted in the two parties hitting $ 11.5 billion of each other’s exports with tariffs.
The French leader has led US technology companies such as Facebook Inc and Twitter to remove terrorist content within one hour at the request of authorities. But he also criticized them for censoring Trump after a mob stormed the Capitol, saying, “The moment they were sure he was out of power, they suddenly cut the microphone.”
(Updates with comments from the seventh paragraph.)