Weaponising China’s export of medicines is wrong, immoral and should be denounced

High-profile economist Li Daokui said that Beijing could restrict drug exports to the US if the Trump administration was to cut China’s access to semiconductors

Washington has been ratcheting up attacks on Chinese tech firms, including starving Huawei of components made by American companies

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The United States is heavily reliant on imported medicines from China, something both US President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden have vowed to address after the coronavirus pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in the nation’s pharmaceutical and medical device supply. Photo: AFP

Zha Daojiong

Zha Daojiong is a professor at the School of International Studies, Peking University.

Published: 7:00pm, 29 Aug 2020Updated: 7:43pm, 29 Aug 2020

The suggestion from economics professor Li Daokui that China curb exports of medicines as a means of countering US economic curbs on Chinese access to semiconductor products is plainly wrong, dangerous and deserves to be denounced.

It is wrong for several reasons. First, with or without a pandemic, for an individual of any country, unaffected access to medicines is both a right and a necessity. Safe and effective medicines are not just another category of ordinary products. They are produced and traded to meet the needs of residents of countries around the world for treatment of diseases and improvement of health.

Deliberate foreign tempering with access to medicines in a country amounts to direct attack on the well-being of present and potential patients and, by extension, healthy residents in the event of an epidemic. Continuing development of the Chinese economy depends as much on control of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Chinese society as it does for other countries. Everything else being equal, trade and investment make up the tangible linkage between China and the rest of the world.

Second, the increase in the supply of medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from China, in recent years, to other societies is a result of two forces. Lowering of costs in manufacturing was certainly a factor. But more importantly, manufacturers are attracted to the ease of product supply to satisfy the needs of the Chinese populace. The second motivation has brought direct benefits to China itself.