At the invitation of Mr. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, made a state visit to the People's Republic of China from 8 to 10 January 2018. The two heads of state had in-depth exchanges of views on bilateral relations and major international issues and decided to bring the close and enduring comprehensive strategic partnership between China and France to a new level, based on the principles of trust and mutual and reciprocal benefit.
In the joint declaration, the two heads of state welcome the creation of a China-France Hospital Alliance and the strengthening of the partnership on the theme of healthy aging. They decide to hold regular China-France health meetings from 2018 and encourage exchanges and cooperation between institutions and companies in the health sector. Furthermore, China and France declare to conduct advanced joint research on emerging infectious diseases, using the Wuhan P4 laboratory.
According to Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan P4 Laboratory, as one of the mega scientific cooperation programs under the Sino-French Cooperation Framework Agreement, was designed by French and Chinese design units, and was installed and built by Chinese part. The P4 Laboratory is a specialized core facility for studies on highly contagious and fatal diseases like Ebola virus disease. Therefore, the facility must provide the biosafety protection to the investigators and environment at the highest standard possible on earth. Only a few developed countries have P4 laboratories. China started to build such a facility ever since SARS outbreak. Chinese and French engineers and workers worked together to have accomplished the complex.