{"id":56124,"date":"2020-05-25T11:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T01:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=56124"},"modified":"2020-05-25T10:10:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T00:10:10","slug":"china-is-its-own-worst-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-is-its-own-worst-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"China is its own worst enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The global backlash against China<\/a> over its culpability for the international spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan has gained momentum in recent weeks. And China itself has added fuel to the fire, as exemplified by its recent legal crackdown on Hong Kong. From implicitly seeking a political quid pro quo for supplying other countries with protective medical gear, to rejecting calls for an independent international inquiry into the virus\u2019s origins until a majority of countries backed such a probe, the bullying tactics of President Xi Jinping\u2019s government have damaged and isolated China\u2019s communist regime.<\/p>\n

The backlash could take the form of Western sanctions as Xi\u2019s regime seeks to overturn Hong Kong\u2019s \u2018one country, two systems\u2019 framework with its proposed new national security laws<\/a> for the territory, which has been wracked by widespread pro-democracy protests for over a year. More broadly, Xi\u2019s overreach is inviting increasing hostility among China\u2019s neighbours and around the world.<\/p>\n

Had Xi been wise, China would have sought to repair the pandemic-inflicted damage to its image by showing empathy and compassion, such as by granting debt relief to near-bankrupt<\/a> Belt and Road Initiative partner countries and providing medical aid to poorer countries without seeking their support for its handling of the outbreak. Instead, China has acted in ways that undermine its long-term interests.<\/p>\n

Whether through its aggressive \u2018Wolf Warrior\u2019 diplomacy\u2014named after two Chinese films in which special-operations forces rout US-led mercenaries\u2014or military-backed expansionist moves in China\u2019s neighbourhood, Xi\u2019s regime has caused international alarm. In fact, Xi, the self-styled indispensable leader, views the current global crisis as an opportunity to tighten his grip on power and advance his neo-imperialist agenda, recently telling<\/a> a Chinese university audience, \u2018The great steps in history were all taken after major disasters.\u2019<\/p>\n

China has certainly sought to make the most of the pandemic. After buying up much<\/a> of the world\u2019s available supply of protective medical equipment in January, it has engaged in price-gouging and apparent profiteering<\/a>. And Chinese exports of substandard or defective medical gear<\/a> have only added to the international anger.<\/p>\n

While the world grapples with Covid-19, the Chinese military has provoked<\/a> border flare-ups<\/a> with India and attempted to police the waters<\/a> off the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands. China has also recently established<\/a> two new administrative districts in the South China Sea and stepped up its incursions and other activities in the area. In early April, for example, a Chinese coastguard ship rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat, prompting the United States to caution China<\/a> to \u2018stop exploiting the [pandemic-related] distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea\u2019.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China has made good<\/a> on its threat of economic reprisals against Australia for initiating the idea of an international coronavirus inquiry. Through trade actions<\/a>, the Chinese government has effectively cut off imports of Australian barley and blocked more than one-third of Australia\u2019s regular beef exports to China.<\/p>\n

Whereas Japan readily allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct a full investigation into the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster\u2014a probe that helped the country to improve safety governance\u2014China strongly opposed any coronavirus inquiry, as if it had something to hide<\/a>. In fact, some Chinese commentators denounced calls for an inquiry as racist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But once a resolution<\/a> calling for an \u2018impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation\u2019 of the global response to Covid-19 gained the support of more than 100 countries in the World Health Organization\u2019s decision-making body, the World Health Assembly, Xi sought to save face by telling<\/a> the assembly, \u2018China supports the idea of a comprehensive review.\u2019 At the last minute, China co-sponsored the resolution, which was approved without objection.<\/p>\n

The resolution, however, leaves it up to the WHO\u2019s controversial director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, to launch the review \u2018at the earliest appropriate moment\u2019. Tedros, who has been accused of aiding<\/a> China\u2019s initial Covid-19 cover-up, may decide to wait until the pandemic has come \u2018under control<\/a>\u2019, as Xi has proposed.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake: the world will not be the same after this wartime-like crisis. Future historians will regard the pandemic as a turning point that helped to reshape global politics and restructure vital production networks. Indeed, the crisis has made the world wake up to the potential threats stemming from China\u2019s grip on many global supply chains<\/a>, and moves are already afoot<\/a> to loosen that control.<\/p>\n

More fundamentally, Xi\u2019s actions highlight how political institutions that bend to the whim of a single, omnipotent individual are prone to costly blunders. China\u2019s diplomatic and information offensive<\/a> to obscure facts and deflect criticism of its Covid-19 response may be only the latest example of its brazen use of censure and coercion to browbeat other countries. But it represents a watershed moment.<\/p>\n

In the past, China\u2019s reliance on persuasion secured its admission to international institutions like the World Trade Organization and helped to power its economic rise. But under Xi, spreading disinformation, exercising economic leverage, flexing military muscle and running targeted influence operations have become China\u2019s favorite tools for getting its way. Diplomacy serves as an adjunct<\/a> of the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s propaganda apparatus.<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s approach is alienating other countries, in the process jeopardising their appetite<\/a> for Chinese-made goods, scaring away investors and accentuating China\u2019s image problem. Negative views of China and its leadership among Americans have reached a record high<\/a>. Major economies such as Japan<\/a> and the US<\/a> are offering firms relocation subsidies as an incentive to shift production out of China. And India\u2019s new rule<\/a> requiring prior government approval of any investment from China is the first of its kind.<\/p>\n

China currently faces the most daunting international environment since it began opening up in the late 1970s, and now it risks suffering lasting damage to its image and interests. A boomerang effect from Xi\u2019s overreach seems inevitable. A pandemic that originated in China will likely end up weakening the country\u2019s global position and hamstringing its future growth. In this sense, the hollowing out of Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy in the shadow of Covid-19 could prove to be the proverbial straw that breaks the Chinese camel\u2019s back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The global backlash against China over its culpability for the international spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan has gained momentum in recent weeks. And China itself has added fuel to the fire, as exemplified …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":482,"featured_media":56126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[52,981,983,204],"class_list":["post-56124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-china","tag-hong-kong","tag-pandemic","tag-xi-jinping","dinkus-coronavirus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina is its own worst enemy | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-is-its-own-worst-enemy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China is its own worst enemy | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The global backlash against China over its culpability for the international spread of the deadly coronavirus from Wuhan has gained momentum in recent weeks. 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