Last year, about 40 per cent of the antibiotics imported to the US came from China, including 90 per cent of chloramphenicol, 93 per cent of tetracyclines and 52 per cent of penicillin, according to data from the US International Trade Commission.
Reliance on China for the supply of some basic medicines is a vulnerability for the US and an advantage to Beijing, according to Zhang Weiwei, a professor of international relations at Fudan University, who is known for his nationalist views.
He said in a speech earlier this year that “all hospitals in the US would have to close without China’s supplies”, given its overdependence on Chinese antibiotics.