Yi Zhou

Fan of human dignity, individual rights, democratic process. Journalism by trade, avid jokeslinger. @sciencespo alum, CN/US/FR. Views are my own.

[Yi Zhou @Yi34]

1 Corinthians 10:23 :
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything"—but not everything is constructive.

[Natasha Bertrand @NatashaBertrand]

Stephen Miller tells @jaketapper “no one is going to fight the US militarily over the future of Greenland,” indicating there wouldn’t need to be a US military operation for the US to take over the island, which he reiterates should belong to the US.

[Stephen Dziedzic @stephendziedzic]

Threat. Latest @LowyInstitute poll now in capable hands of @cnlyonsjones. Trust in US plummets to record low of 31% only just pipping China (28%). But US alliance remains quite resilient: 73% of Australians still say it's important for national security 1/ https://t.co/IQ8eALdlTL

[Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham]

VDL: Over the last five years imports for example from China into the EU have increased by 45%. Last year the EU recorded its largest ever trade deficit with China, 360 billion euros, that is a deficit of 1 billion euros per day

[Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham]

Just now: post-European Council press conference, Presidents of Cyprus, European Council, Commission

Von der Leyen: "Commission will work on new tools such as a diversification instrument. I'm pleased we saw clear support for European response based on unity among member states"

[Jim LaPorta @JimLaPorta]

New from me and @Olivia_Gazis - U.S. monitoring Chinese activity in South China Sea around disputed shoal https://t.co/mxYxRmoxGA

[Yi Zhou @Yi34]

@EmmaMAshford Kallas did not render it irrelevant, it’s the member states’ inability of forming an United Front on issues ranging from existential to trivial and the revival of the Great Power might is right that did.

[Yi Zhou @Yi34]

It’d be funny if Teodoro becomes the next PH president.

[South China Morning Post @SCMPNews]

Breaking | China sanctions Philippine defence chief Teodoro https://t.co/AWlVesdzma

[Thompson Chau @tchau01]

NEW: Taiwan’s growing drone industry has been plunged into uncertainty after the opposition-led legislature axed domestic production programmes from the government’s flagship defence budget.

In Taichung, drone companies find themselves in a fog. 1/3
https://t.co/6Ccgh2mnLl

[Yi Zhou @Yi34]

Lol.

[Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham]

Brussels' longhand for "China"

"We will revert to economic issues during dinner, when I would like us to focus on global macroeconomic imbalances and their implications for Europe’s competitiveness and prosperity."

[Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham]

A great chart in here that illustrates how much is resting on Germany's position at next week's European Council debate on China.

Nowhere else in Europe comes close to the level of exposure to Chinese industrial exports

[Globe Books @globebooks]

Chrystia Freeland’s political memoir Unreliable Boyfriend to focus on U.S.’s evolving role https://t.co/GsFa7TWK0C

[Axios @axios]

The looming China pharma choke point https://t.co/jEjWugsI9s

[Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC]

US official tells me it was an Iranian drone that shot down the US Apache helicopter with 2 Americans onboard yesterday.

[Peter Harrell @petereharrell]

DoD republished its list of Chinese military companies, after briefly posting it earlier this year.

Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, BYD all on it, as are robotics companies and Chinese memory chipmakers.

The list doesn't impose immediate restrictions, but does signal USG concern.

[Rush Doshi @RushDoshi]

🚨Thrilled to share our new @CFR_China report with CFR Global Health's @TomBollyky, @profyadav, @OliviaWKosloff, & Elena Every: "The Pharma Choke Point."

The US is dependent on Chinese production for essential medicines, creating a "rare earths" problem in this sector. Seven hundred medicines approved for use in the United States depend on at least one chemical produced solely in China.

For the last year, our study group of pharma and biotech specialists, China scholars, and industrial policy experts came together to:

1⃣ Use commercial data to map the dependencies
2⃣ Devise a typology of three unique "archetypes" of these dependencies
3⃣ Craft solutions to address these dependencies

A few key points follow below:

➡️China's Leverage is real — Beijing doesn't need a wartime crisis to exploit it. It can slow shipments, delay licenses, or reroute flows through "peacetime weaponization." That's the playbook it has already run on rare earths.

➡️Current dependence is structural — It's the product of decades of Chinese state investment and Western pursuit of the low-cost solution. China controls the raw/starting materials for 94% of US amoxicillin, 74% of heparin, and 70% of acetaminophen. It's dominating preclinical work in biotech. And diversifying downstream offers no real protection from upstream dependence.

➡️Archetype 1: Upstream Dependence — Roughly 700 medicines Americans depend on at least one chemical made only in China, including antibiotics, blood thinners, ER drugs. Solutions include:

- building a strategic reserve of critical medicines
- building "allied scale" to create diversified production
- mix various long-term supply and demand interventions to change economic viability for KSMs, APIs, and other upstream inputs (more in the report)

➡️Archetype 2: Competitive Displacement of U.S. Biomanufacturing and Clinical Trial Capacity — For innovative biologics—medicines made from living cells—such as monoclonal antibodies, the risk is not a single upstream choke point but competitive displacement across every stage of the value chain: discovery, clinical development, contract manufacturing, and market access. The U.S. is losing a critical capability: now, WuXi alone handles nearly half of US clients' development programs. China alone is more than half of all late-stage monoclonal antibody programs. Lock-in deepens at every stage. Solutions include:

- accelerating first-in-human clinical trials in the United States
- funding and incentivizing the adoption of advanced biologics manufacturing technologies (e.g., low-cost capital from the USG)
- building contract research alternatives in allied countries like South Korea
- bolstering the U.S. biomanufacturing workforce
- creating a system to secure artificial intelligence (AI)–ready biodata and digital chemistry, manufacturing, and controls.

➡️Archetype 3: Dependence on PRC Infrastructure — Here, the vulnerability is not disruption in the supply of an existing product, but Chinese control over the research-and-development (R&D) infrastructure underlying future pharmaceutical innovation. Growing reliance on China for DNA synthesis is just one example. Solutions include:

- improving DNA supply chain security
- enhancing transparency and disclosing provenance
- increasing federal investment in next-generation DNA synthesis technologies
- and bolstering allied cooperation on standard-setting and procurement to encourage the adoption of these technologies.

➡️Key Takeaway: China has both the tools and demonstrated willingness to weaponize U.S. pharmaceutical dependence: the structural conditions enabling it run through nearly every tier of the pharmaceutical supply. The question is not whether to act, but if the United States will manage to do so before a crisis makes the cost of decades of inaction unavoidable.

I am so grateful to Tom, Prashant, Elena, Olivia, Chloe, Ben, Aarya, CFR's publications team, and so many others who made this possible. It was tremendously educational to work together on this project.

[ANI @ANI]

#WATCH | Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Venezuela Acting President Delcy Eloína Rodríguez Gómez at Hyderabad House.

President Delcy Gómez, who is on a five-day visit to India, arrived in New Delhi yesterday.

(Source: DD News)

[Shashank Mattoo @MattooShashank]

Breaking: Quad countries are working on a leaders level summit this year possibly on the sidelines of a global gathering in region, says US Secretary of State Rubio

[Nicholas Burns @RNicholasBurns]

This is a strong statement and the right statement by Secretary Rubio. @StateDept

[David Capie @davidcapie]

Speaker Gerry Brownlee calls China’s ban of MPs ‘disappointing’ | The Post https://t.co/wdhaeg5qo9

[Stephen Dziedzic @stephendziedzic]

Penny Wong fielded multiple questions on this at Senate estimates, but was treading pretty carefully. Reaffirmed that it's appropriate for Australian (or NZ) MPs to make private visits to Taiwan. Didn't want to wade in beyond that until after speaking with Winston Peters

[産経ニュース @Sankei_news]

＜主張＞天安門事件37年　中国こそ歴史を直視せよ
https://t.co/TIkt1cfkuN

今年も中国の共産党独裁と民主主義を考える上で忘れてはならない日を迎えた。中国の民主化運動が武力弾圧された天安門事件の発生から37年となる4日、事件の真相究明と責任追及を中国に改めて要求する。