‘Irreparable mess’: China and France dissolve 19-year scientific partnership in Shanghai

Institut Pasteur of Shanghai renamed the Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection as scientific collaboration ends

Students and researchers in the dark about what the demise of the partnership will mean for the future

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The scientific partnership between China and France of the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai has ended after 19 years. Photo: Weibo

Published: 12:01pm, 4 Aug 2023Updated: 12:03pm, 4 Aug 2023

On July 26, outside a walled compound on Yueyang Road in Shanghai, a stone plaque inscribed “Institut Pasteur of Shanghai” was quietly replaced with a new one reading, “Shanghai Institute of Immunology and Infection”. On the same day, the website was also renamed and updated.

It signalled the end of an almost 20-year collaboration between the Institut Pasteur and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The French scientific research centre first partnered with CAS back in 2004. But in March this year, it announced the termination of that alliance, saying: “The Institut Pasteur decided in December 2022 to suspend its partnership agreement with the Chinese Academy of Sciences regarding the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai.” At the time, it indicated the name of the organisation would also change as a result.

It is possible that the writing was on the wall. Since 2021, the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai (IPS) has not been an active member of the Pasteur Network, made up of 33 institutions from 25 countries and regions.

Speculation has since arisen over the move, with some suggesting it may be another indication of China’s “decoupling” in the field of science and technology from Western countries. But others have argued it could be an individual case as the Chinese government continues to encourage international scientific collaboration.

The year 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the China-France governmental agreement on scientific and technological cooperation. As part of that cooperation, the IPS served as an emblem of scientific diplomacy between the two nations.