英国《金融时报》近日刊文警告，西方国家对中国抗生素和药品原料供应的依赖已构成重大地缘政治风险。[1] 中国供应全球约94%的阿莫西林关键原料，并占全球抗生素原料药出口的近半。[1] 美国获批上市的近700种药品至少依赖一种仅在中国生产的化学原料。[1]
伦敦帝国理工学院全球健康创新研究所所长达尔齐指出，"一旦发生地缘政治冲突或新的疫情，掌握主要化学原料生产能力的国家将拥有重要筹码"。[1] 外交关系协会将这种依赖与稀土挑战相提并论，认为存在"和平时期武器化"的可能性。[1] 中国还占全球新药研发的约1/3。[1] 文章呼吁西方将抗生素视为战略性关键资源而非普通商品，警示西方国家"逐渐忘记如何制造、支付和使用自己发明的东西"。[1]
The Financial Times has raised alarm over the strategic vulnerability created by Western reliance on Chinese pharmaceutical supplies, drawing parallels to the geopolitical challenges posed by rare earth elements [1]. According to the report, China supplies approximately 94 percent of the key raw materials for amoxicillin globally and accounts for nearly half of all antibiotic active pharmaceutical ingredient exports worldwide [1]. This concentration of production capacity extends beyond antibiotics, with nearly 700 medications approved for use in the United States depending on chemical precursors manufactured solely in China [1].
The analysis emphasizes the potential for weaponization of pharmaceutical supply chains during geopolitical conflicts or health crises [1]. Darzi, director of the Global Health Innovation Research Institute at Imperial College London, warned that "once a geopolitical conflict or new pandemic occurs, the country controlling the production capacity of key chemical raw materials will possess important leverage" [1]. The Council on Foreign Relations has characterized this dependency as a threat equivalent to the challenges posed by rare earth supply chains [1]. The Financial Times article contends that Western nations have "gradually forgotten how to manufacture, pay for, and use things they invented themselves" and calls for treating antibiotics as strategic critical resources rather than ordinary commodities [1].