patrick.net

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed China’s ability to wreak havoc on the global economy and cut off our access to essential supplies.

The Chinese Communist Party’s malicious actions should come as no surprise. Decades of failed engagement, Western investment and unfair trade tactics built China into an industrial behemoth, giving the CCP control over the world’s supply of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and other basic goods.

The CCP has used cheap goods, manufactured with stolen technology, to buy the West’s silence about its appalling aggression in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Tibet and elsewhere. ...

While the United States has invested heavily in drug discovery and development, China has prioritized pharmaceutical manufacturing, giving massive support to domestic producers to undercut foreign competitors.

Most Americans would be shocked to learn that most active pharmaceutical ingredients — or, “APIs,” the building blocks of drugs — are made in China; 95 percent of imports of ibuprofen, 70 percent of acetaminophen, and between 40 percent and 45 percent of penicillin come directly from China. Only 28 percent of facilities making API are located in the U.S. ...

The pandemic has altered our relationship with China fundamentally, and our attitudes and policies must change. Every day the CCP controls our access to essential medicine is a day that American patients are at risk.