开讲啦

当地时间5月15日，美国众议院监督与问责委员会以压倒性票数表决，通过了《生物安全法案》。    The Build Back Better World (B3W) program was pompously announced by the club of seven developed nations to counter China's Belt and Road at the G7 Summit in Cornwall in July 2021. However, little had been heard of the G7's endeavor since then. In June 2022, the Group of Seven decided to breathe new life into the project.,"So far, America has failed to build momentum on its plan to Build Back a Better World," says Francesco Sisci, a Beijing-based China expert, author, and columnist. "However, with this new G7 plan, which includes other countries, this momentum could start to be built. It is a question mark. Nobody is sure until things are realized. But you cannot just underestimate and dismiss this plan, because there is a large commitment of many countries with a large economy and this plan could make big sense.",The G7's grand design envisages laying a secure sub-sea telecommunications cable that will connect Singapore to France through Egypt and the Horn of Africa; creating a COVID-19 vaccine plant in Senegal; expanding solar projects in Angola, including solar mini-grids and home power grids; and establishing an innovative modular nuclear reactor plant in Romania, among other issues.,The US president pledged to mobilize $200 billion in investments in global infrastructure projects over the next five years. The overall investment, including G7 member states and private capital, is expected to reach $600 billion.,"With two competing plans - size matters, at the end of the day," says Sisci. "That is, China may be able to immediately finalize a lot of money in a short time in a number of projects. The G7 countries could be slower, but eventually they could build up momentum and they could channel much more money much more effectively, perhaps, in a much larger number of projects which could stifle Chinese projects.",Sisci suggests that the club of developed capitalist countries "may end up being more effective in many ways [than China], a smaller non-capitalist country.","China, but also Russia, by far, don't have the size, the gravitas to oppose even a divided G7, which is coming together because of this opposition to China or Russia-driven projects," he notes.,UK's Looming Recession is Self-Inflicted, BoJo and BoE are to Blame, Economists Say19 June, 12:09 GMT,G7 Economic & Geopolitical Hurdles,However, some other observers express skepticism over the ability of the US and G7 to implement the project given record-high inflation and cost of living crisis currently engulfing the states. The US, British and European central banks are struggling to tame skyrocketing inflation by raising interest rates to reduce demand, which is prompting recession fears.,"Washington claims they are going to be sending over $200 billion. But where's the money coming from and how is it going to be really used?" asks Thomas W. Pauken II, the author of "US vs China: From Trade War to Reciprocal Deal," a consultant on Asia-Pacific affairs and a geopolitical commentator.,He notes that previously the US Senate voted Biden's landmark Build Back Better initiative down, and for good reason, as Republican congressmen feared that the Democratic administration's spending spree would fan inflation and increase an already bloated national debt.,Pauken also expresses bewilderment over the G7's apparent readiness to embark on the bold international project at a time when the group is involved in the Ukraine crisis with the UK trying to keep the military conflict dragging on. "I mean, it's laughable that they have to think about [competing with] China at this time when they're on the brink of a major war in Europe," the commentator remarks.,Challenge or Opportunity? How China's Digital Silk Road May Change Global Technology Order16 April 2021, 04:00 GMT,Meanwhile, the G7's Global Investment and Infrastructure Partnership cannot be regarded so far as a viable alternative to the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative that has been implemented for slightly less than a decade, according to Pauken.,"First of all, [the G7] actually need[s] to make these projects work," says the geopolitical commentator. "Other than that solar plant in Angola, I don't see any of these initiatives really working.",In particular, China invested almost $59.5 billion in its comprehensive infrastructure project in 2021 alone. When it comes to crucial elements of the project, the West appears to be lagging behind. While the G7 is still considering building a subsea cable linking Europe and Southeast Asia, China kicked off its Digital Silk Road (DSR) almost seven years ago. The DSR's backbone is the Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE), a 9,300 mile long subsea cable network meant to tie Asia, Africa, and Europe together. The network is designed to transmit over 16Tbps per fibre pair with its Mediterranean section going from Egypt to France having already been laid.,WFP Announces Cuts in Food Rations for Refugees in East, West Africa Due to Lack of Funds20 June, 17:13 GMT,Are Emerging Economies Interested in the G7 Agenda?,There is yet another problem as to how to make these Western projects attractive for Global South nations, the Asia Pacific expert continues. In particular, the G7 has been pushing ahead with a climate change agenda and the plan to cut carbon emissions, which is not relevant for the majority of third-world states which are still reliant on cheaper and more reliable fossil fuels and coal plants, he notes.,"You also have to deal with auditing issues as well as the so-called climate change consultants who go on the ground and on site," he says. "You have to prove that those infrastructure projects are not causing much of a carbon footprint. But most of the major infrastructure does require a big carbon footprint, especially in the emerging markets, because they don't have the same equipment or they don't have the same standards or labor laws as they would have in Western Europe or the US.",Many emerging economies, including African countries, are beginning to have a growing frustration with the US and Europe, according to Pauken. The reality is that Africans and many of the emerging markets want to focus on economic stuff, he notes. However, when the US officials come in, they're talking about climate change or gender equity, and this is not as interesting to developing nations, the commentator emphasizes.,"[Developing nations] want help on improving their agricultural production levels and boosting their energy capacity, which the Russians and the Chinese have been doing," Pauken notes.,Given all of the above, it is unlikely that the G7's Global Investment and Infrastructure Partnership initiative is going to actually happen, argues the geopolitical commentator.,"They're rebranding a failed policy, thinking it might work by using new names and new mergers. Last time it was separate between the EU and separate between the US and they somehow think that if you combine the two failed projects into one, that this will somehow succeed. That's not going to work in the real world," Pauken concludes.。该法案将推动美国制药和医疗保健公司减少对中国研究和制造的依赖。身兼委员会主席的共和党众议员科默在投票前表示，“这项法案是在中国相关企业进一步融入美国经济前，保护美国敏感医疗数据免受中方侵害的必要步骤。”

《生物安全法案》将禁止联邦机构与被认为所谓的“有问题”的生物技术公司签订合同。该法案还将禁止与使用这些公司的设备或服务的公司签订合同。在法案中列出的中企名单中，包括药明生物、药明康德、华大基因、华大智造（MGI）和“Complete Genomics”（美国成立，后被华大智造收购）等5家中资企业。

该法案的支持者声称，这项立法对于防止外国对手获取美国人的健康和基因信息是必要的，而外国对手可能会将这些数据武器化。他们还表示，“让中国主导生物技术供应链是危险的。”民主党议员拉贾·克里希纳穆尔蒂还声称，“美国纳税人的钱不应该资助（中国）生物技术公司，这些公司正积极与中共和中国人民解放军合作，有可能收集美国人的基因组数据和知识产权，并利用这些数据来推进其目标。”

此前，在今年3月初，由参议员加里·彼得斯提出的参院版的《生物安全法案》，同样在美国参议院国土安全与政府事务委员会召开的听证会上获得了通过。和旧版的法案相比，昨天通过的版本最大的变化在于，设定了一个距当下将近8年的豁免期，也就是说允许美国在2032年1月1日之前，结束与被列入法案名单的中国生物技术公司的合作。同时，被列入法案公司名单的企业，也比之前新增了药明生物。

二 | 根据药明生物的年度报告，该公司在2023年年销售额达170亿元人民币（23.5亿美元），其中约47%来自北美，约18%来自中国。

法案中还指出，除了被点名的5家公司之外，还有一些对美国国家安全构成风险，以及受外国对手的行政机构控制的企业，也在法案的禁止范围内。针对被点名的5家公司，禁令生效是在法案发布后60天，针对其他未被点名的实体，禁令生效则是在法案发布后180天。

从立法程序上来看，即使已经获得众议院监督和问责委员会的批准，该《生物安全法》仍需经过众议院和参议院全体投票表决通过，再由美国总统将其签署成为法律。有美国法律界人士分析，“一项法案要成为法律，参众两院必须通过同一文本的相同版本，然后由总统签署成为法律。如果内容上存在差异，双方将不得不继续谈判并作出调整。”

对此，相关企业回应称，法案是基于虚假和误导性指控，将限制竞争，强调它们不会对美国国家安全构成威胁，因此不应被纳入法案。其中药明康德今天早间发布公告称，公司强烈反对这种未经正当程序的预设性且不合理的定义。同时表示，药明康德在过去没有、现在和未来都不会对美国或任何其他国家构成国家安全风险，而且公司也未曾受到美国政府机构的任何制裁。