China US
By Li Aixin
As US’ pandemic responses falter in the face of mounting coronavirus infection cases while China lends a helping hand to countries struggling with COVID-19 after having seen a dramatic slowdown in its own rate of new infections, anxiety over Beijing “exploiting” the health crisis to overtake Washington in “global hegemony” is on the rise in the West. Observers believe this is due to either over-anxiety or a Cold War hegemonic mind-set.
Over the past few days, some Western experts and media outlets, especially those from the US, have been suggesting that the worldwide public health crisis is the “opportunity of the century” for China to cement its place as a global power, maneuver for international leadership and even “take over the world.”
Even Henry Kissinger, former assistant for national security affairs and US secretary of state, published an article on Friday entitled “The coronavirus pandemic will forever alter the world order” on The Wall Street Journal. Some analysts believe he was more or less hinting that the US should be careful not to hand its global leadership to China on a silver platter.
Brazilian education minister Abraham Weintraub put it more directly by tweeting that the pandemic would help China “dominate the world,” which he later deleted on Sunday. Chinese Embassy in Brazil called Weinraub’s claim “absurd.”
The fact that global leadership is slipping from Washington’s grip has been acknowledged by experts for quite some time, since the US itself and its allies’ expectations of and confidence in the country have been declining. The pandemic is accelerating the process, experts asserted, but added that this is not the moment for China to claim the global leadership.
Sharp contrast
The US will witness its coronavirus “Pearl Harbor” moment and a 9/11 moment in the coming week, US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on Sunday. Looking at how the US has been coping with COVID-19, it is not hard to see why it eventually came to this point.
Even if it had seen what happened in China, especially the lockdown of Wuhan, the loudest possible alarm bell China could possibly have rung to alert the world, top US officials had still spent weeks downplaying the threat of the virus, missing the golden opportunity for prevention and control. Without focusing on preventing transmissions among communities, preparing enough medical supplies or making unified and nationwide plans, and with constant wars of words over budgets and each state fighting its own coronavirus battle, the epidemic quickly swept across the country, with densely populated areas such as Detroit and New Orleans likely becoming the next epicenter, as New York currently is.
Americans are not satisfied with the way Washington is handling the pandemic, Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, told Global Times on Monday, adding that they also see the US as being selfish for not only being hesitant in providing help to other countries, but also scooping up medical supplies worldwide.
Andreas Geisel, the interior minister for Berlin state, Germany, accused the US of being a modern pirate on Friday after the latter reportedly diverted a shipment of masks intended for Germany, and outbid other countries for critical medical supplies.
Worse, the White House ordered Minnesota mask manufacturer 3M on Thursday to prioritize US orders and stop exporting masks to Canada and Latin America. Dwight Ball, premier of Newfoundland, Canada, made no secret of his frustration over the US banning vital medical supplies to his country by underscoring that “even in times of global crisis there should be no Wild West methods.”
A stark contrast can be discovered in China’s approach. Not only has the country brought the epidemic under control, it has also been proactively promoting international collaboration, offering medical supplies and advice to countries worldwide, dispatching medical expert teams to badly hit regions. It also made a $20 million donation to the WHO. Just over the past few days, China has donated 2 million surgical masks, 200,000 N95 masks and 50,000 testing kits to Italy and 1,000 ventilators to New York, according to Xinhua News Agency.
China’s response to the initial outbreak was not desirable, but it then “mobilized its resources better than what most Western countries have done,” said Odd Arne Westad, a professor at Yale University and an expert on the history of the Cold War, while noting its assistance to others will invariably raise China’s international prestige.
By giving help, China is simply being responsible as a major power in assisting those who are in need, rather than seeking to replace the US in the current world order, observers claim. Unfortunately, the move is being misinterpreted by some media and politicians with a hegemonic mentality that Beijing is striving for geopolitical influence.
Attacks stem from anxiety
“I believe that all of China’s actions since it succeeded in overcoming the coronavirus have been motivated by the hope of saving lives,” William Jones, Washington Bureau chief of Virginia-based weekly news magazine Executive Intelligence Review, told the Global Times. He noted that the idea China is trying to become a global hegemon is a myth, promoted by people who insist that the Atlanticist clique, which has governed the world for the last 50 years, must be the sole “rule maker.”
The view is echoed by Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, who said some US elites tend to believe China will utilize every opportunity possible to overturn the international order and US hegemony in an attempt to become the number one power in the world, since the logic of “a strong power is bound to seek hegemony” is deeply rooted in their mind-set.
This mind-set has been in existence long before the coronavirus outbreak, and will last long after, he suggested.
The comprehensive US containment of China over the past years was the proof of this mentality, experts believe. After witnessing China’s efficient response to the coronavirus epidemic and the US incompetence, they pointed out that suspicion and anxiety will only be exacerbated, as it has triggered a debate that some Western elites never wanted – which system is better at handling a crisis?
Western accusations against the Chinese system have been constantly changing with the development of the pandemic. In the early stages of the outbreak in China, the West accused the country of violating human rights for putting Wuhan under lockdown. Now that the city’s outbound and inbound transport has been resumed, New York has gone into a coronavirus lockdown.
As a result, which measures to take does not depend on one’s political ideology, but on whether a country genuinely yearns to bring the crisis under control, Xin said.
Since the earlier forms of attack on China are gradually losing their attraction, the focus of the US blame game has changed. In addition to asserting that China is seeking global leadership, it has unceasingly cast doubt on China’s reported coronavirus-related figures. After the WHO confirmed that the data the organization has received is based on scientific proof, the US baselessly accused the WHO of being corrupted.
As China steps up to deliver public goods while the US is busy finding ways to criticize China for the alleged spread of the virus, countries are becoming increasingly aware that Washington is not helping at a time when help and solidarity are needed the most.
“Here in Italy it is going to change for good the perception of who is leading in the world, and it’s not the US,” The Washington Post quoted Nathalie Tocci, the head of the Italian Institute of International Affairs, as saying.
World leadership
A number of observers believe the international community is confronting its greatest challenge since the end of WWII, but without US leadership. Chinese experts note that while China should make more contributions within its capabilities, it is not time for the country to overtake the US and steer the global ship.
However, there are many ways to define “global leadership,” said Wu. “If it is about proposing initiatives, setting agendas and rules, promoting relevant actions in joint efforts and providing global public goods”, then China is pursuing leadership.
Observers believe China’s approach is about saving lives and making the world more secure.
But if it is about striving in the geopolitical sphere, seeking hegemony with the mentality that only one country can make the rules, then China has neither the ability nor the will, analysts said, believing it is a ridiculous time to talk about a potential change in the world order, as China is still slowly recovering from the tragic damage caused by the virus epidemic.
It’s time for stronger international cooperation to end this nightmare, George N. Tzogopoulos, a lecturer at the European Institute in Nice, France, told Global Times. “The providing of assistance by China is appreciated by people in need in all countries. And this is what matters,” he said.
