History apprises that seismic changes in world politics have resonated due to wars, famines and more recently, pandemics. By the time this article comes in the forefront, the panorama of Corona virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) will have engulfed many more into its chaos. A global order in constant reshuffling attends to apparent strands of multi-polarity, bipolarity and unipolarity coupled with kaleidoscopic relations between nation-states. The airborne virus has altered the leadership footprints of the world wherein the United States of America (US) seems incapable of handling the prevailing conundrum. China on the other hand, has unfolded into a cognizant state grasping full advantage of the weaknesses of the US. The American leadership is occupied in catering to its vested interest and has failed to care for its citizens, while China is structuring a new system through the provision of material support to various states.
The advent of non-traditional security threats have widened the parameters of securitization once marked out by Barry Buzan under his Theory of Securitization. The securitization of any puzzle occurs upon exhausting existing political amnesties at hand. In a similar manner, the developed world is walking a tight rope in finding an apt response to the COVID 19 minion, while it’s Eastern most contender China has its Trojan horse set to make its move. The West continues to remain in a bewildered flux over the required response to the looming pandemic. Washington considers the pandemic to be mere utopia, while the European Union has misplaced its integration in the fight against the virus. The Western world, particularly the US, is persistent in managing the Sino-US competition that had surfaced in the pre-corona virus timeline in the form of a trade war. The zero-sum game arrangement will not entail fruitful results required in the long term venture of international politics and domestic wellbeing.
The Washington administration is cooking a hotchpotch of misadventures in response to the looming pandemic. The White House, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have dented the ‘responsible state’ image of the US. The statements of President Trump and the Oval Office are not running in parallel either. The Western World, although well versed in the pharmaceutical sector, particularly the US, has straggled in providing sufficient testing kits as an ad hoc arrangement response to the virulent disease, ultimately dropping the testing rates. Moreover, the US Strategic National Stockpile contains a threadbare total of equipments required to ward off the prevalent disease. To make matters worse, the Trump administration has decided to gradually remove the remedial lock down with the likelihood of surging cases in the days ahead. The Washington administration signal’s an uninterrupted will power deficit, which was absent in the fight against the Ebola malaise.
Beijing’s policy of silencing doctors raising awareness about the Corona virus menace and the impeding precautionary measures were in high time turned oblivion to, until their repercussions emerged for the Republic of China. These errors are justifications for the partial soft power Beijing aimed at projecting at the international level. The tide started to turn by the mid of March 2019 when the daily report of cases dropped down to single numbers. This very domestic account of success is being used by China in order to strengthen its position abroad. Internationally, Chinese media continues to lambast Washington’s preparations as handicapped in the management of the epidemic. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has inched further in pinpointing the US military person for spilling over COVID 19 in Wuhan.
China’s material assistance represents its foreign policy agenda of attaining a wider presence in global governance. The European Union (EU) is receiving large swathes of medical supplies; Africa obtains similar donations by Alibaba’s Cofounder Jack Ma’s Foundation and Sri Lanka has recognized an inflow loan of$500 million. This list goes on with the dispatch of ventilators, respirators, protective gear and medical teams. Further, for states such as Iran and Italy, China has verified its position of an all-weathered friend. The red lettered days of Chinese mask diplomacy proves to be a garb for the initially blunders it committed. Much in the form of a blessing in disguise and prior to the emergence of COVID 19, China was already a major outlet for the production of surgical masks. Similarly, China owns about half of the millions of N95 masks circulating in the markets of the developed and developing world.
The protracted trade war between China and the US also has a new face as an extension in the realm of COVID 19. Contemporary trade dependency of the US revolves around imports of medical utensils and medicines (95 per cent antibiotics are of Chinese origination). China has utilized the platform of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) secretariat in order to advertise its proposal against the corona virus endemic.
As the globalized world order stems on, the requisite of soft power solidifies its position and discourages the propagation of hard power. In the magnification of this power configuration on the daggers drawn Sino-US conquest, China is winning the race for global leadership. If Washington’s domestic crisis management policy remains unaltered, China will eventually emerge as the victor. There is still room for the resurfacing of the US as a global leader through domestic good governance and reaching out for the lost confidence of its international allies. With hegemonic stability paradigm of International Relations comes the bonus of primacy, which Washington can still arrive at if it develops the vaccine against COVID 19 within the next set time frame. Global politics requires Washington’s cooperation with Beijing for a more secured and fair American leadership. Sino-US collaboration in tackling the eminent virus may even act as a spillover catalyst in other fields of work ranging from politics, economics to societal good. Such an initiative will reinstate international buoyancy in Washington’s closely held hegemony and shatter Beijing’s strive for its revival.
