Foreign Affairs: Coronavirus may reshape the world order

China is now maneuvering to take over the leadership of the world as the United States fails as the new Coronavirus epidemic turns into a global event, according to an article by two authors on Foreign Affairs.

The two American authors, Kurt M. Campbell and Roch Duchy said that while the geopolitical consequences of corona are considered secondary compared to the health and safety outcomes, the geopolitical consequences will take on significant significance in the long run, especially for the international situation of the United States.

They pointed out that global systems tend to change gradually at first, then change completely in one moment.

In 1956, a failed intervention in the Suez Canal revealed the decline of Great Britain and marked the end of the UK’s influence as a world power.

They said that America’s decision-makers must be aware that if Washington does not rise to the current challenge, the Coronavirus epidemic will mark “another Swiss moment.”

They added that it is now clear that Washington has failed in its initial response to the epidemic, as the main American institutions from the White House and the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have threatened people’s confidence in the ability and efficiency of American governance.

The authors later wrote to clarify the manifestations of the American failure, citing official statements and tweets to say that they sowed doubts and spread uncertainty among the general public, and that the public and private sectors proved that they were not ready to face the epidemic with the necessary equipment for examination and post-examination.

They also said that, at the international level, the epidemic amplified Trump’s well-known tendencies and his desire to act in isolation from the international community and to expose Washington’s inability to lead the world.

They continued to say that America’s position as leader of the world during the past seven decades was built not only on wealth and power, but also on the legitimacy resulting from the quality of American governance, and to facilitate the supply of the world with its needs, ability and desire to mobilize and coordinate international responses to crises, and that the Corona epidemic is currently testing the three factors of leadership American, and even today Washington has failed the test.

The two authors compared America’s “failed” performance to China’s performance against the epidemic, saying that the latter moved quickly to take advantage of the gaps made by American mistakes and fill the vacuum and place itself in leading the world to confront Corona.

Campbell and Duchy listed the details of China’s stumbling block at the beginning of dealing with the epidemic with discretion and falsification of information during last January and February, and then eventually succeeding in this March in controlling Corona and obtaining the world’s recognition of overcoming a catastrophe described by some as “a new Chernobyl” And Tiananmen.

They pointed out that China is currently working to turn this success into a story that tells the whole world and persuades it that it is a major player in the defeat of Corona.

They said that Chinese President Zhijie Ping understood that the provision of global goods could shine for China’s emerging leadership in the world. He spent many years pushing the Chinese foreign policy apparatus to think more seriously about leading “global governance” reforms. Corona provided an opportunity to put this theory into practice.

For example, the authors cited well-promoted Chinese offers of material assistance to other countries including masks, respirators, fans and medicine.

They pointed out that China, at the beginning of the crisis, bought, produced and received as an aid huge quantities of these commodities. She is now in a position to give it to others.

He added that when no European country responded to Italy’s urgent appeal on medical and protective equipment, China publicly committed to sending thousands of ventilators, millions of masks, thousands of protective suits and testing devices, and also sent medical teams and similar equipment and equipment to Iran and Serbia.

Chinese billionaire businessman Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Stores, has pledged to send large quantities of masks and test devices to the United States and all African countries.

The authors emphasized that the United States, unlike China, lacks the equipment and ability to meet many of its demands, not to mention providing assistance to crisis areas elsewhere, describing the image of the American situation as bleak, and revealing that the US strategic national stockpile, which is the country’s reserve of supplies Medical Critical, contains only 1% of masks and respirators and perhaps 10% of the ventilation devices needed to deal with the epidemic.

The authors drew attention to the fact that Washington mobilized and led international efforts to assist African countries in 2014 and 2015 during the Ebola crisis, while the Trump administration has moved away from this role to face the current Corona epidemic even with the allies, noting that it had not previously informed its European allies by banning European citizens from traveling to America .

The authors concluded their essay by saying that the main elements of China’s success in gaining world leadership against Corona are the American shortcomings and internal focus of politics.

Hence, the ultimate success of China’s endeavor will depend as much on what is happening in Washington as on what is happening in Beijing.

In the current crisis – as they say – Washington is still able to change course if it proves that it is able to do what is expected of the leader, managing the problem at home, providing global public goods, and coordinating the international response.