Foxy, to you personally it might be really disturbing due to your individual circumstances, but to the whole of society it wouldn't change much if China stopped exporting pharmaceuticals. It certainly wouldn't be the end of the civilized life in Australia scenario that ttbn is trying to paint. And that's because the vast, vast majority of people in Australia don't require medicines to stay alive day to day. I'd except it to be, at most, in the low 10,000's. And for those that do require vital drugs, in most cases Australia could source an emergency supply from other countries' stocks. Or in other words, 99.999+% of the population would still be with us next week if China's supply of pharmaceuticals to us was stopped immediately.
Indeed, the number of Australian's who would die within 6 months if China's supply was stopped would still be very, very low. And by this time we would have re-arranged our own production and import supply lines. When it comes to medicines China's not the only game in town. Many countries (including our own) have the capacity to produce drugs. India, for example, is another major supplier of the world's drugs.

Another point that should be made: is that playing political games with the supply of life saving medicines/equipment is considered a definite no-no on the international stage. I would be very surprised if China would stoop low enough to do this in a major way (contrary to what ttbn claims): it's something that nearly all countries wouldn't do. Even during wars that pose a real existential threat to a whole country (for example, recent and current ones involving F'ed-up backwards countries in the Middle East or Africa), combatants permit the flow of life saving medicines.

Thinknotabit,

So 99.999+% of Australians don't need important medication. You are even more off the planet than usual. You know nothing. How old are you? 12?

Take one look at the political and economic games the West is playing with Covid vaccines. Oversupply to rich developed countries while denying vaccines to the poor of the third world, very much run with a user pay mentality. Fortunately for the Chinese they were able to develop the Sinovac vaccine, otherwise a gun would be held to their heads. US sanctions against the innocent people of Cuba, has seem many die because vital drug supplies have been denied.

Is there a message from this thread that says China can do it better and more efficiently under Communism than the Capatalist West? Australia can't even manufacture band-aids.

Some on the extreme Left work hard to pretend that the West is worse than Communists China.

ttbn: "So 99.999+% of Australians don't need important medication."

Ok ttbn, so once again you've given us a perfect display of the limits of your comprehension and logical reasoning skills. I never said that 99.999+ of Australians don't need important medication. I said: "99.999+% of the population would still be with us next week if China's supply of pharmaceuticals to us was stopped immediately."

Almost all people on medication can skip/forget a day or two without dying. The number of people who require daily drugs to keep them alive for the next day, is a minute minority. In my post said at most low 10,000's across Australia.

However, almost none of these daily dependent people would die, in the next few days (ie: by the start of next week), if the Chinese were to stop exports to us immediately. The reason being that we would have enough immediate supply on hand in our own pharmacies/supply reserves for most people (indeed most of these people would have a limited reserve at home already since you typical buy medications in multi-serve packs not single serves). And, as previously explained, we could quickly arrange to import emergency supplies from other countries' stockpiles. Indeed, I would imagine that within hours of the startling news of China banning exports to us offers of help from friendly countries would arrive. And that's why 99.999+ would still be alive next week if China were to ban pharmaceutical exports to Australia today.

In addition,, such an policy from China would be instant world-wide headlines and most governments (even ones that are not traditionally allied/aligned with us) would take serious notice. Countries would immediately realise that such a extraordinary, out-of-the-blue, policy could be applied to them. And as a longer term consequence, production of critical pharmaceuticals would ramp up across the globe, outside of China, as a result of countries losing faith in their Chinese supply chain.

T.a.b ,

You really are a piece of work: juvenile and ignorant.