[Reading Science] 'China Severance' Pasteur Institute... Expulsion or Escape?

Suspension of Collaborative Operations with Shanghai Pasteur Institute Since December Last Year
Attention on Impact to China-International Scientific Community's R&D International Cooperation

France's world-renowned biological research institution, the Pasteur Institute, has ended its research collaboration with China. Amid the technological hegemony competition between the United States and China, attention is focused on whether this will become China's 'declaration of independence in science and technology research' or lead to isolation.

On the 8th, the international academic journal Nature reported that the Pasteur Institute has terminated its partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and is no longer involved in managing the joint research institute located in Shanghai.

Shanghai Pasteur Institute Homepage.

The Pasteur Institute, as part of scientific cooperation between France and China, jointly established and operated the Shanghai Pasteur Institute with CAS in Shanghai in 2004. This institute has conducted research on hepatitis C, Ebola, Zika virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and the COVID-19 virus, achieving results such as developing candidate substances for hand, foot, and mouth disease treatments and norovirus vaccines. As of August last year, 146 staff members worked there, including 35 senior researchers and 29 postdoctoral researchers, with 9% being non-Chinese. The budget last year was approximately 36 million USD.

However, the Pasteur Institute decided in December last year to cease joint operation of the Shanghai institute with CAS and is currently no longer involved. CAS is now operating it independently and plans to change the institute's name soon.

The exact reason why the Pasteur Institute decided to withdraw from China has not been disclosed. However, it surprised many international scientists. Alice Hughes, a biology professor at the University of Hong Kong, interpreted this as "a potential signal that the era of China cooperating with the international scientific community has ended." When the institute was established in 2004, China lagged behind in many research areas. At that time, the establishment of the Shanghai Pasteur Institute was welcomed, and China even allowed Vincent Duval, recommended by France, to become the first head of a research institution established on the Chinese mainland, showing a desire for cooperation in science and technology research. But now, China has firmly risen to the ranks of a scientific and technological powerhouse, and CAS may have lost interest in research cooperation with foreign institutions, according to Professor Hughes.

He explained, "This may be a signal that the era of internationalization in China's science and technology research has ended," adding, "Foreign researchers are still welcomed at Chinese research institutions, but it means that joint operation (of institutes) is no longer possible."