The Institut Pasteur withdraws from its Chinese branch

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Launched in 2004 by Jacques Chirac with the P4 laboratory in Wuhan, the Institut Pasteur in Shanghai will come under Chinese control.

Jeremy Andre

Jacques Chirac visits the Pasteur Institute in Shanghai on October 11, 2004.
© PHILIPPE WOJAZER / POOL / AFP

Published on 03/11/2023 at 6:52 p.m.

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Ct is a terse press release on its website which announced it yesterday: the Institut Pasteur is leaving the Institut Pasteur in Shanghai. “The Institut Pasteur took this decision in December 2022 after conducting a one-year dialogue phase with the Chinese Academy of Sciences”, we specify in Point at Pasteur. According to our information, the appointment of a successor to the previous co-director appointed by France, the virologist Fernando Arenzana, who returned last year, could not succeed, despite long negotiations.

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Towards a Chinese institute

According to AFP, François Romaneix, deputy director of the Institut Pasteur, justified the rupture by a “disagreement” on “the rules of governance…