| he global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 was qualified as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization.From a global perspective,humans have not completely emerged from the COVID-19,and the virus is still mutating and the threat to humans has not been completely eliminated,so improving access to vaccines and medicines is the only way to overcome the virus.However,the high standard of pharmaceutical intellectual property protection under the TRIPS Agreement framework has seriously hindered the accessibility of vaccines to people in developing countries,especially the least developed countries,and the debugging effect of its internal relevant flexible provisions is very limited,and the conflict between pharmaceutical intellectual property protection and the right of life and health has once again aroused global concern.In order to solve the problem of vaccine accessibility,waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents were proposed for discussion,i.e.temporary waiver from the TRIPS Agreement related intellectual property protection obligations of WTO members,which was a temporary flexible arrangement for intellectual property protection in the context of the epidemic outbreak,and provides a sample for another major global public health crisis or similar challenge in the future.However,due to the serious differences between developed and developing countries,the negotiations on waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents were difficult,and the process was slow with heated exchanges between the parties.Even in the face of a sudden major outbreak,the North,led by developed countries,still did not want to coordinate and cooperate with the South on the waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents.As a large developing country,China took the initiative to make a commitment not to apply the waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents when the negotiations were at an impasse,making an important contribution to the final conclusion of the waiver decision and demonstrating the role of a large country,but also posing challenges for China:Firstly,during the negotiation process,some developed countries,in the name of "health governance",tried to protect trade in the name of self-interest,attempting to divide China from the developing countries,so that China was excluded from the initial text of the waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents and failed to grasp the right to speak.;Secondly,Developed countries may also repeat the same trick in the future when constructing flexible mechanisms for public health and intellectual property rights,violating the WTO’s principle of Non-discriminatory,using the "active commitment does not apply" as a precedent,so that China’s "active commitment does not apply" becomes the norm,which cannot fail to arouse China’s vigilance and attention.China should have a sense of worry and be proactive,as General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out,"participate deeply in global IP governance under the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization",and,on the premise of maintaining the multilateral system of the WTO,respond effectively by promoting the construction of a human health community and the institutionalization of waiver of intellectual property in the event of a major global public health crisis,and promote the construction of a new development-oriented international intellectual property rule system to effectively safeguard its rights and interests. |
