This year has already been defined by major instability and potential long-term damage to global supply chains, which has raised critical questions about how we secure supply lines for our most vital needs.
While European and American leaders obsess over securing vital components and resources for technologies and munitions of the future – as demonstrated this past week at the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, where rare earths and semiconductors dominated the agenda – they are ignoring another critical vulnerability. Modern militaries, as well as societies, rely on uninterrupted access to frontline antibiotics as much as they do ammunition or fuel – and right now, Beijing controls that supply.
Antibiotics are the bedrock of modern medicine; without them, healthcare systems as we know it would effectively collapse. Each year, roughly four million operations are carried out in England alone. Without antibiotics to prevent and treat infections, modern healthcare would become highly dangerous. They’re prescribed for everything from strep throat to routine wisdom tooth removals, from treating sexually transmitted infections to managing cuts and safeguarding mothers and babies during childbirth.
