Table of Contents
Chinese Globalization vs. Western Globalization
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..2
Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic……………………………………………………………2
Global Public Goods………………………………………………………………………………5
Erosion of the China-US gap……………………………………………………………………..6
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..9
Chinese globalization vs. Western globalization
Introduction
Following the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, China will steer world globalization and not the US. Although the United States is the closest to what constitutes a global superpower, China has become a real rival. Military capabilities, economic strength, and diplomatic and cultural influence are the primary metrics for measuring a superpower, and the US only appears to be leading in military force. As globalization continues to disperse economic power, the US is losing its superpower relevance. Besides, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed the glaring weakness of the Western superpower. Although China may not necessarily supplant the US prevalence, the world is definitely moving into a multi-power state, and China is gradually but surely joining the ranks of global superpowers. The geopolitical implications of COVID-19 may be secondary to safety, but long-term, they will serve to affirm China’s entrance into the global superpower rank.
Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Washington’s inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic continues to undermine confidence in the United States’ competent governance. The United States’ global position will likely change after the epidemic if the country does not rise to the occasion. The US might end up having a moment similar to Britain’s Suez incident that ended the United Kingdom’s reign as a global superpower (Campbell and Rush). The major US institutions constituting the White House, CDC, and Homeland have had missteps in responding to the COVID-19 crisis that has cost thousands of American lives (Campbell and Rush 1). The US is currently the epicenter of the virus, with hundreds of Americans dying daily following the actions of their government. Instead of reassuring its citizens, the US has been spreading uncertainty and confusion.
The United States’ response to the COVID-19 crisis proves that both public and private sectors of the country are unprepared when it comes to resources needed to test and respond to the pandemic. Wealth and power, competent governance, manufacturing and production of global goods, and the capability and willingness to respond to global crises previously affirmed the US status as a superpower (Campbell and Rush 1-2). The COVID- 19 pandemic is testing these areas except wealth and power, and the US is failing the test. On the other hand, China is quickly rising to the occasion. At a time when Washington is needed but is not showing up, Beijing is taking advantage of the openings created by these mistakes (Campbell and Rush 2). China is not only providing material assistance to other countries in this time of need but also helping to organize governments.
China is leveraging Washington faltering moment to affirm its leading status. If Beijing can make the world see the United States as unwilling to help during the pandemic, it can affect its position in global politics in the next few years (Campbell and Rush 2). Although most countries are for the United States’ capitalistic approaches, they can’t reject help from China’s communist regime. Mistakes have been made in Beijing and Washington, but the former acted promptly to get ahead of the crisis. The virus was first detected in Wuhan in November 2019, but state officials only reported it months later. China’s actions therefore delayed countermeasures by weeks, which could have prevented a global crisis (Campbell and Rush 2-3). While other countries took stringent measures to combat the spread of the virus, Washington’s leadership undermined the magnitude of the threat. This action has now cost thousands of American lives. However, the difference is that Beijing is showing up for the world, while Washington cannot even control its situation.
Despite earlier mismanagement of the crisis, China has become an essential part of the global recovery. China’s first response to the pandemic was to limit the spread of information by punishing doctors who attempted to report it, rejecting the CDC’s assistance, altered infection, and death statistics of the virus. China also limited the WHO’s involvement (Campbell and Rush 2). The epidemic was in full scale in January and February, but by early March, there was a glimpse of success (Campbell and Rush 3). However, while countries took measures to counter the virus, the US watched as if there were no chances of registering the virus. Currently, while countries like Cyprus are COVID free, the number of deaths in the US has doubled exponentially to that in China.
China’s speed and strength in combating COVID-19 contrast the United States’ somewhat hesitant response. “Beijing response has been widely acclaimed” (Zhao). The spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in China remarked that China set a global standard in combating the virus. The narrative presented by Beijing is further helped by the failing US efforts of getting ahead of the COVID-19 situation (Campbell and Rush 3). China is continuously seizing the opportunity created by the American disarray to remind the world of its superiority. The irresponsibility and incompetence being displayed by the United States’ governance have therefore served to put China in a position of power that will enable it to steer world globalization over the next few years.
Global Public Goods
China’s publicity in offering material assistance during the COVID-19 outbreak is placing it in a better global governance position. China’s president, Xi Jinping, has, over the years, affirmed his leadership through the provision of global goods. China has managed to move from the epicenter of the virus pandemic to the leading supplier of masks, ventilators, and medicine (Campbell and Rush 4). Besides what the country received as aid, it has produced equipment that it is handing out to the world to fight the pandemic. In a time when no other country could answer Italy’s call for assistance, China was able to step in and provide medicine and other personal protective equipment. China also dispatched help to Iran and Serbia, and Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma, assisted all 54 African countries (Campbell and Rush 4). China’s well-publicized helping actions continuously undermine other superpowers placing it in a leading position in the coming years.
Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, the world depends on China, not the US. Much of what the world needs, China can provide giving it a foreign policy tool, medical equipment. China is already the leading producer of surgical masks, but with the ongoing crisis, production has been increased tenfold (Campbell and Rush 4). The US is itself dependent on China for most supplies. China is currently producing half of the N95 respirators that are needed by frontline health workers. Foreign factories operating in China are now being forced by the government to manufacture equipment and sell directly to them. China has also managed to control the narrative of its involvement in the pandemic by snuffing out the negative press. The world depends on China today, and it will depend on it in the coming years.
The United States is unable to meet its demands amidst the crisis, let alone offer aid elsewhere. The Strategic National Stockpile and the nation’s research appear to have just 1% of masks and respirators, and 10% of ventilators needed to fight the virus. Besides, 95% of the country’s antibiotics come from China (Campbell and Rush 5). The US hence depends on China to win the fight against the pandemic. The US did offer assistance to China and other countries during the onset of the virus, but it’s China that can help when the world in dire need (Campbell and Rush 5). After the coronavirus pandemic, most countries, including the US, are likely to depend on China for food and other supplies. While most industries are on a standstill amidst the pandemic, China has already set out to resume manufacturing and production of global goods that the world will need after the epidemic.
Erosion of the China-US gap
The glaring weakness of the United States’ influence and China’s staggering rise are continuously closing the China-US gap. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the US being a superpower while China remained an emerging superpower. Subject experts argue that the United States’ status as a superpower is not so clear anymore, especially following Trump’s administration. However, proponents of the US’s unrivaled state argue that the relevance of a superpower is losing meaning in a multi-power world (Zhou). Therefore, China is likely to do is join the ranks of superpowers but not supplant the US’s dominance. China is likely steering the world globalization in the coming years, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the China-US gap even further.
Despite having unmatched military capabilities, the US is losing a dominant role in the global economic stage. Gordon Adams, the US policy expert, notes that “If a superpower status was measured solely on military strength, the US is undoubtedly unmatched” (Zhou). The World Economic Forum further suggests that the US can “plan, deploy, sustain and fight at a distance from its homeland across air, land and sea,” which is impossible for any other country. However, the US is no longer able to meet the economic, diplomatic, and cultural influence criteria of a superpower. From World War II to the end of the cold war, Adams notes that the US has remained at the center of all diplomatic activities. The US formed the UN and NATO (Zhou). However, the US has lost its geopolitical influence since 2016, especially in Asia to China. The US is no longer calling the shots on the global economic stage, which it is not sharing with China.
While the US is losing its economic foothold, China is rising to the occasion. Associate professor of IR at Monash University, Maria Rost, remarks that the US cannot claim the world’s superpower status with just military dominance, it needs to meet all dominance criteria (Zhou). The current economic scuffle between the US and China indicates the extent to which the US has lost economic dominance. With China threatening to stop buying US bonds, the US could experience financial difficulty in the coming years. Adams notes that as globalization continues to disseminate economic power, China is a serious rival for the US (Zhou). Adams further suggests that China’s trillion-dollar belt and road initiative will also grant China significant economic foothold, primarily being supported by 129 countries and 29 international organizations (Zhou). The US no longer dominates the Middle East, and instead, countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran have become very influential in the region. It is safe to say that China is about to become the more dominant force across Asia and the Middle East economically.
The world has moved from a single-power paradigm to a multi-power shift, further demeaning the US’s superpower dominance. If the US is dominant in the military sector, then China is dominating the industrial area. Although it is unclear which of the two countries will have diplomatic and cultural influence after the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of military and financial strength, both countries are now superpowers. However, following the recession after the epidemic, Chins will be in control of the global economic stage. While the US is currently in a full-blown crisis, China started its recovery trek in early March (Campbell and Rush). Almost all countries are depending on China for supplies. While states are still fighting the pandemic, China’s industries are back and running. With excellent manufacturing and production capabilities, China will steer world globalization in the coming years.
The US has global dominance that makes closing the China-US gap a slow process. The US is the only country with military, economic, and diplomatic influence to remain a decisive global player (Beckley 69). Although the coronavirus pandemic has altered the cards in play for the US, the gap would still take time to close. China may be leading economically, but the US still has support from states such as Israel, Australia, and France. China’s economic dominance may be slowed by these countries joining forces to investigate China’s contribution to the COVID-9 pandemic. The US has the best growth fundamentals and spurs entrepreneurship and innovation better than the Russia and China regimes (Beckley 7, 41). However, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation where everybody will need China during and after the epidemic, which will reduce the China-US gap.
Trump’s administration has continuously eroded the country’s global power. Although the US is still a powerful country, its geopolitical foothold has decelerated under Donald Trump’s presidency. Adams notes that Donald Trump continues impending rules-based international order by pulling out of treaties and starting trade wars as well as denigrating useful allies (Zhou). The Asia Power Index released by the Lowy Institute shows that the power difference between China and the US is shrinking partly due to Trump’s policies. The US led a coalition to counter the spread of Ebola in 2014, but Trump’s administration continues shunning similar efforts in combating COVID-19 (Campbell and Rush 5). The Lowy report showed that Washington ranks behind Beijing and Tokyo in diplomatic influence courtesy of contradictions between the United States’ “revisionist economic agenda and its traditional role of providing consensus-based leadership” (Zhou). Beijing is becoming the center for diplomatic matters due to Trump’s alienating administration policies.
Conclusion
Although supplanting the US supremacy might be impossible for China, it will become a superpower along with the US. After the COVID-19 pandemic, China will have economic dominance as it comes to the rescue with global public goods, which even the US will need. While Washington is busy focusing on trade wars and point accusing fingers to China, China is producing medicine and protective equipment for the globe in a time of dire need. The incompetence and irresponsibility of the US government and the current administration, the China-US gap is slowly but surely closing.
Works Cited
Beckley, Michael. Unrivaled: Why America will remain the world’s sole superpower. Cornell
University Press. 2018
Campbell, Kurt M., and Rush Doshi. “The coronavirus could reshape the global order.” Foreign
Affairs 18, (2020).
Zhou, Christina. Is America still the world’s only superpower, or is China a real rival? Experts
Aren’t so sure anymore. Retrieved from: https//:www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/united-states-still-the-worlds-only-superpower/11195636. 2019