COVID-19 reveals that Cold War mentality should be abandoned in the 21st century.
by Shen Yi Source
The COVID-19 pandemic is still shocking the world. According to data from Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, global novel coronavirus cases topped 4.9 million on Wednesday. As of press time, the US has reported over 1.5 million cases with more than 91,900 deaths.
Confronted with the common threat posed by COVID-19, some observers are thinking about where the post-epidemic world is headed for. One of the recent debates regards whether the ongoing crisis will trigger a process of either “de-sinicization” or “de-Americanization?”
Some believe that the epidemic has exposed developed countries’ so-called excessive dependence on China’s manufacturing industry. Hence, they believe that after the pandemic, those countries shall take action to reduce dependence upon China in industrial supply chain. Meanwhile, some others think the crisis unveiled US’ incompetent leadership, which has affected the credibility of US dollar and US bond.
A goal of the market economy is that one is free to coordinate productive resources in order to maximize profit. Even amid the current revolution in the fields of information and communication technology, such nature of the market economy hasn’t undergone substantive changes. The post-pandemic world still needs high-quality globalization. Any attempt to retreat substantially from the existing globalization process, or to block the endogenous demands of market economy with non-economic factors, will ultimately reach a dead end.
The real problem is not about whether to deny globalization, but whether countries can comprehensively, accurately and profoundly understand globalization. Can they address the risks and challenges in the process of current and future globalization?
It is necessary to boost global governance in order to cope with the pandemic effectively. The novel coronavirus poses a common threat to human society as a whole. It demands that all countries, including China and the US, make use of their comparative advantages and cooperate effectively and pragmatically.
On Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the 73rd World Health Assembly. He clearly pointed out the direction of future efforts for fighting COVID-19 – all countries should join hands to strengthen global governance in the area of public health.
At the meeting, Xi proposed several initiatives, including providing $2 billion over the next two years to help with COVID-19 response in affected countries, setting up a global humanitarian response depot and hub in China to ensure the operation of anti-epidemic supply chains, establishing a cooperation mechanism to help Africa ramp up its disease preparedness and control capacity, making any COVID-19 vaccine China develops global public good to ensure vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries. Xi called for cooperation with other G20 members to implement a Debt Service Suspension Initiative for the poorest countries. His speech portrays what the world should be like after the pandemic.
COVID-19 reveals that Cold War mentality should be abandoned in the 21st century.
It should become the consensus of humanity that all countries should be free to bring their comparative advantages into full play. Major powers must equally shoulder international responsibilities, and properly handle the risks and challenges in the process of globalization. They must continuously promote the benign revolution of global governance. All parties should work together to build a community of shared future for mankind.
Only in this way will we defeat the novel coronavirus pandemic and embrace a brighter future.
The author is director at the Research Center for Cyberspace Governance of Fudan University
