A health worker is administering 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 has 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 vaccinations are less available than those of Western drug manufacturers, Macron said Thursday in an online discussion to mark the opening of the European Council’s Atlantic Center.
Emmanuel Macron in Paris, on February 4.
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’s initiatives to register Sputnik V inoculation with the European Medicines Agency.
China has sought to expand its geopolitical influence through vaccine diplomacy. This one added another inoculation to its arsenal this month, when late-stage studies in Brazil indicated that Sinovac Biotech Ltd. vaccine offers significant protection against Covid-19. But the lack of timely and clear revelations from Chinese developers contributed to the caution of their photos.
It is a “clear diplomatic success,” Macron said, describing China’s efficiency in producing and exporting doses worldwide as “a little humiliating for us.”
As the EU lags behind the US and the UK in managing fires, Macron defended the European Union’s approach to buying vaccines together to avoid a race between member countries. He also put pressure on drug manufacturers to step up their efforts to produce life-saving vaccines in France.
“Systematic rival”
An official in Macron’s office, who asked not to be appointed under the protocol, said this week that French President and Chancellor Angela Merkel had been aligned with any vaccination that met EU standards and that geopolitics plays no role. The comment came in response to a question about whether Macron would consider purchasing the Sputnik V vaccine, which Merkel said she was ready to consider in Germany.
In Thursday’s discussion, Macron described a recent EU-China investment agreement as “not honestly a huge deal” and said it had not addressed intellectual property issues. The deal was seen as the latest sign that Europeans want to diversify alliances after four tense years with Donald Trump in the White House – and one that could make it difficult for the US and EU to agree on a common strategy for China. .
In minimizing these concerns, Macron highlighted the history and common values that bind Europe and the United States, which he said is not a “systemic rival,” unlike China.
Macron was the first leader of an EU country to speak to Joe Biden since his inauguration in January. He said he welcomed the president’s commitment to work closely with traditional allies and return to the international forums Trump has abandoned, such as the Paris climate pact and the World Health Organization.
However, while Macron has sought a return to multilateralism, he does not clearly expect a complete transformation of the EU-US relationship. The decisions made in Washington are determined by the national interest, said Macron, which “could not be exactly the same as the European one.”
The French leader reiterated his call to reform the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, especially in light of Turkey’s intervention in Syria, and said NATO forces must maintain interoperability.
Macron is expected to take over the continent and 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 a plane dispute with the US has led to parties to reach $ 11.5 billion from reciprocal exports with tariffs.
The French leader praised American technology companies as well Facebook Inc. and Twitter to remove terrorist content in an hour at the request of the authorities. But he also criticized them for censoring Trump after a crowd stormed the Chapter, saying “just when they were sure he was out of power, they suddenly cut off the microphone.”
(Updates with comments from the seventh paragraph.)