Mérieux talks about his love affair with China, head-of-state diplomacy, close hearts | "We are in the same family"

"46 years ago, I came to China for the first time. From then to now, a long time has passed, and my friendship with China has become stronger and stronger. I feel like the same family." Recently, Merry, a Frenchman who is nearly 90 years old, said Alain Mérieux, Chairman of the Ethiopian Foundation, reflected on his love affair with China during his recent visit to China.

On April 8, President Xi Jinping met with this old friend of the Chinese people at the Great Hall of the People and expressed his appreciation for the Merieux couple and the Merieux Foundation for their long-term concern and support for the development of Sino-French relations and China's health care undertakings. President Xi Jinping said that for a long time, China and France have carried out a series of cooperation in the field of health and achieved fruitful results. The Mérieux Foundation is welcome to continue to deepen cooperation with China.

On April 8, President Xi Jinping met with Mr. and Mrs. Merieux, chairman of the French Mérieux Foundation, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This is Xi Jinping talking with Mérieux.

"President Xi Jinping's concern and appreciation for us shows the close ties between the Merieux family and China, and also recognizes the efforts of both of us to jointly respond to public health challenges." After returning to France, Merieux said in an exclusive written interview with reporters .

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France 60 years ago, generations of people have inherited and developed China-France relations. The friendship between the two countries has become stronger over time. The Mérieux family is a witness and contributor to the friendship between China and France.

"Looking back, it seems like my first visit to China was two centuries ago." The old man said with a smile.

In 1978, the 40-year-old Mérieux came to China for the first time and introduced the vaccine developed by the Mérieux Institute to the Chinese scientific research community. During a lecture training, he noticed that many professors and doctors in the audience were already gray-haired. Mérieux was deeply moved by their serious attitude towards medical research.

China and France thus started cooperation in tuberculosis prevention and treatment, infection control and other fields. "The Chinese and forensic medical communities have established and maintained a special relationship, which continues to this day. I am touched by the reliability and strong willingness of Chinese partners to cooperate," the old man said with emotion.

He emphasized that the Merieux Foundation has always adhered to the purpose of "in China, with China, and for China" and worked with Chinese partners to promote the development of public health. Establish high-level biosafety laboratories to jointly respond to public health challenges such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, avian influenza, and new coronavirus epidemics... Over the years, the Mérieux Foundation has carried out extensive cooperation with China and achieved fruitful results.

This is the Merieux Bioscience Research Center in Lyon, France.

In Mérieux's view, China's medical infrastructure is increasingly improving, and its first-class medical and scientific research teams provide medical protection for the entire population, respond promptly to major threats such as emerging pathogens and respiratory diseases, and prevent foodborne disease outbreaks. These are "remarkable things." Achievement".

China's rapid economic development and continuous improvement in technological level have also provided vast opportunities for global companies. In 1997, bioMérieux established its first office in Beijing. Later, the company's Asia-Pacific headquarters settled in Shanghai, and then the production base in Suzhou High-tech Zone was put into operation. BioMérieux continued to expand the Chinese market. Today, China has become bioMérieux's second largest market and important R&D center. Under Merieux's leadership, a large number of French biopharmaceutical companies have turned to China as the birthplace of innovation.

"For us, China has become an important industrial and research center, and we are able to develop high-level, long-term partnerships in the fields of medical diagnostics and food safety." Merieux said. In his view, China's development achievements have attracted worldwide attention and its international influence is increasing day by day. "My support for China is as always, 100%."

On April 11, at an exchange event in Shanghai, Mérieux talked about his feelings about meeting President Xi Jinping on the 8th: "I was deeply moved and honored by President Xi Jinping's words. Every time I come to China, it's like returning home. When I get home, my heart is full of warmth.”

Mérieux treasures a certificate numbered 001, which is the China Reform Friendship Medal certificate awarded to him by President Xi Jinping at the celebration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up in December 2018. Merieux is particularly proud of this.

On December 20, 2018, Merieux, who had just returned from Beijing, displayed the China Reform Friendship Medal and certificate at his office in Lyon, France.

Mérieux once described himself as “the Frenchman with the most Chinese blood”. The Merieux family has had friendly exchanges with China for generations. Mérieux's grandfather Marcel was a student and assistant of Professor Pasteur, the "father of microbiology". He established the Mérieux Institute at the end of the 19th century to combat tuberculosis that was spreading in Europe at that time, laying a solid foundation for the family's cooperation with China. Mérieux's father, Charles Mérieux, founded the Mérieux Foundation in 1967 to fight infectious diseases in developing countries. Long before the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, Mérieux's father-in-law Paul Bellier took the lead in introducing Western automotive technology into China and was a pioneer in friendly cooperation between the two countries.

In 1975, during Deng Xiaoping's visit to France, Mérieux and his father-in-law accompanied Deng Xiaoping to visit the Bellier Automobile Factory in Lyon, where the older generation of Chinese revolutionaries left their red footprints during their work-study studies in France. "At such moments, you can feel that the foundation of Sino-French friendship is so deep." Mérieux recalled.

Merieux studied pharmacy at the University of Lyon in France, and later went to Harvard Business School in the United States for further study. In 1963, the 25-year-old Mérieux established BioMérieux and gradually led the Mérieux family group to the world.

In the late autumn of 2012, then-Vice President Xi Jinping met with Mérieux in Beijing. In March 2014, during his visit to France, President Xi Jinping made a special trip to visit the Merieux Bioscience Research Center in Lyon. “All our employees still remember that unforgettable visit,” Merieux said. “President Xi talked about our friendship and our family’s contribution to France-China friendship.”

"I may be the only French person who has met President Xi Jinping more times than the President of France." Merieux said, "I have a true love for China from the bottom of my heart, and this deep emotion comes from years of accumulation."

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, Merieux deeply felt that "the people of France and China should cooperate more closely at present."

He said that the world is facing endless challenges, and humans need to work together to deal with them. He is proud to work with Chinese partners to protect public health and safety.

Not long ago in Beijing, Mérieux made a special trip to the Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, to unveil the new site of Christopher Mérieux's laboratory and exchange a new round of cooperation agreement. The laboratory was established in 2005 and is dedicated to the research of emerging infectious diseases, effectively promoting the development of scientific research on respiratory infectious diseases. Related technologies have been promoted and applied to more than ten developing countries. The laboratory is named after Mérieux's late son, Dr. Christopher Mérieux, to commemorate his outstanding contributions to the collaboration.

"My wife and I saw Christopher's sculpture and name appearing in China's top medical research institutes. At that moment, I was moved beyond words." Mérieux said, congratulating the laboratory on the high-quality research results achieved.

This is the Merieux Bioscience Research Center in Lyon, France.

Looking forward to the future, Mérieux looks forward to deepening medical and health cooperation with China and sharing the results of cooperation with more developing countries. "Confronting the growing threat of infectious diseases requires long-term cooperation among countries around the world that transcends political differences. To this end, all countries should share scientific, medical and technological resources. China and France must play a role in this."

Mérieux called for more funds to be invested in start-ups, hospitals and scientific research institutes, hoping to work with more like-minded people to "struggle for peace and friendship, common ideals, and human health."