A health worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination center in Beijing on January 15.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
Photographer: Kevin Frayer / Getty Images
French President Emmanuel Macron called on China to be more transparent with the science behind its coronavirus vaccines.
It is unclear whether Chinese vaccine developers are adopting common standards because details of their inoculations are less available than those of Western drug makers, Macron said Thursday during an online roundtable on the occasion of the opening of the European Center for Atlantic Council.
Emmanuel Macron in Paris, February 4th.
Photographer: Ludovic Marin / AFP / Getty Images
“I have absolutely no information,” Macron said. “It looks like we may have more information about Russian vaccines,” he said, citing a study published in the Lancet and Russia initiatives to register their Sputnik V inoculation with the European Medicines Agency.
China has tried to expand its geopolitical influence through vaccine diplomacy. That added another inoculation to its arsenal this month when final-stage trials in Brazil indicated that its Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine. offers significant protection against Covid-19. But the lack of clear and timely disclosures by Chinese developers have helped prevent their features.
It’s a “clear diplomatic success,” said Macron, who described China’s efficiency in producing and exporting doses worldwide as “a little humiliating for us.”
With the EU down the United States and the UK in the administration of the shootings, Macron has defended the European Union’s approach to jointly buying vaccines to avoid a race between member countries. It has also been pressuring drug manufacturers to step up efforts to produce life-saving vaccines in France.
“Systemic Rivals”
A Macron office official, who asked not to be appointed under the protocol, said this week that French President and Chancellor Angela Merkel were lined up to host any inoculation that meets EU standards and geopolitics plays no role. The comment responded to a question about whether Macron would raise the possibility of buying the Sputnik V vaccine, which Merkel has said she is willing to consider using in Germany.
During Thursday’s discussion, Macron described a recent EU-China investment agreement as “not honestly big business” and said he did not address intellectual property issues. The agreement was seen as the latest sign that Europeans wanted to diversify alliances after four years of tension with Donald Trump in the White House, and that it could make it difficult for the US and EU to agree on a common strategy in dealing with China. .
In minimizing these concerns, Macron highlighted the history and common values that unite Europe and the United States, which he said is not a “systemic rival,” as opposed to China.
Macron was the first leader of an EU country to speak with 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 Trump abandoned, such as the Paris climate pact and the World Health Organization.
Although, while Macron has been seeking a return to multilateralism, he clearly does not expect a complete transformation of the EU-US relationship. Macron said the decisions made in Washington are driven by the national interest, which “could not be exactly the same as the European one.”
The French leader reiterated his call for reform of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, especially in light of Turkey’s intervention in Syria, and said NATO forces must preserve interoperability.
Macron is expected to take the lead on the continent and in the transatlantic relationship when Merkel leaves after Germany holds elections in September and France takes over the rotating EU presidency in 2022. A number of challenges include an aircraft dispute with the US led both parties to reach tariffs with $ 11.5 billion.
The French leader praised American technology companies such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter to remove terrorist content within an hour when asked by the authorities. But he also criticized them for censoring Trump after a crowd stormed the Capitol and said that “the moment they were sure he was out of power, they suddenly cut off the microphone.”
(Updates with comments from the seventh paragraph.)