Japan’s Health Minister Keizo Takemi agreed to cooperate with China on vaccine and drug development, but the Sankei editorial warns of severe risks. China’s early COVID-19 information concealment, unjust detention of Japanese nationals, obstruction of WHO investigations, and weak intellectual property protection make cooperation dangerous. The editorial argues that Japan should instead work with democratic nations that share core values. The author notes this development confirms the accuracy of his own August 2 essay criticizing Japan’s policy direction.

Does Takemi really believe that vaccines can be developed together with such a country?
August 4, 2024

The following is from today’s Sankei Shimbun editorial.
Not only the Japanese people but people around the world must read it.

Concern over cooperation with China.

On July 19, Health, Labour and Welfare Minister Keizo Takemi met in Beijing with Lei Haichao, director of China’s National Health Commission, and agreed to cooperate on the development of infectious disease drugs and vaccines.
However, this agreement carries considerable danger.
They claim it is based on lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, but because the Xi Jinping administration failed to disclose information properly, China and other nations were delayed in their initial responses—including infection control and border measures—resulting in a grave situation.
China is also a country that unjustly detains employees of Japanese pharmaceutical companies.
Does Takemi truly think that vaccines can be jointly developed with such a country?

When the World Health Organization sent an investigation team to Wuhan, where COVID-19 began, China only allowed research in locations it approved.
China does not understand the simple fact that infectious diseases know no borders or regional barriers.
It is a country that prioritizes political issues above all else.
Taiwan, which succeeded in the initial COVID response, seeks observer participation in the WHO assembly, yet China blocks this.

Intellectual property is not protected in China, and there is a danger that Japan’s pharmaceutical technologies will be stolen.
It has been more than a year since a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma was detained in Beijing on spy charges.
Should Takemi’s first action not have been to strongly demand the immediate release of this man?
Cooperation is impossible while the freedom and safety of Japanese nationals are not ensured.

Infectious disease countermeasures are not merely a matter of public health; they must be recognized as a matter of national security.
What is essential is building a system capable of rapidly developing domestic vaccines and therapeutic drugs when unknown infectious diseases reemerge.

Takemi said, “It is difficult for one country alone to develop vaccines or drugs in a short period of time during emergencies.”
Cooperation with other nations is indeed necessary, but to protect the lives and health of its citizens, Japan must partner with countries that share the values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights—such as those in the West.

If Japan were to jointly develop vaccines with China, Western nations would fear that pharmaceutical technologies would leak to China through Japan.
Japan must avoid a situation in which Western countries hesitate to cooperate with it.

This editorial proves that the essay I published on August 2 precisely hit the mark.

The mass media continued to proclaim the childish argument of a “bad weak yen.”
The Bank of Japan decided to raise interest rates, which resulted in a sudden sharp yen appreciation, and the stock market plunged more than 3,200 yen in two days.
Since Abe’s assassination, those who control the Bank of Japan and the Ministry of Finance—and the politicians who merely act according to their instructions—have ruled Japan.
They are exam-smart elite students raised on the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei Shimbun, or inferior students whose abilities were insufficient to begin with.