It marks the end of a 19-year scientific partnership between China and France, or, if you prefer, the Institut Pasteur in Shanghai and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The two institutions established a partnership in 2004, but in March, the Institut Pasteur announced it was suspending the collaboration. The organization’s name also had to be changed.
From 2021, Institut Pasteur Shanghai is no longer a member of the Pasteur Network, an international alliance of 33 institutions from 25 countries and regions. The move has sparked speculation about its scope. This is another sign of China’s expulsion from Western countries in the field of technology..
The Institut Pasteur in Shanghai played an important role in the Sino-French scientific cooperation formalized 40 years ago through a government agreement. It was established shortly after the SARS outbreak in 2004 with a mission to strengthen China’s scientific capabilities in emerging infectious diseases.
Despite its small size within CAS, the Institut Pasteur holds a leading position in fields such as virology, vaccine development and immunology. He has made important contributions to the study of viruses such as hepatitis C, Ebola, HIV and Zika, and to the development of drugs and vaccines.
However, despite these achievements, the Institut Pasteur has not entered the public eye during the recent pandemic. The breakdown of the partnership has raised questions about its impact on French-Chinese scientific research and collaboration. The fields of health and infectious disease require strong international collaboration, and the end of this historic alliance has raised concerns about the future of this important collaboration to address some of the scientific challenges.