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Thursday, March 19th, 2020

China seizes a new role in the world

Author:     Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
Source:     Axios
Publication Date:     17 March 2020
 Link: China seizes a new role in the world
Stephan:   Here is some further information complementing the previous report. This isn't getting much attention in the U.S. at the moment, but we, as a nation, are going to be seen quite differently when this is over. The geopolitical equation of the 21st century is fundamentally changing. Oh, and did you know that in the midst of this international crisis, while China is sending aid to Iran, Trump and Pompeo have just imposed additional sanctions? How do you think all the countries of the Middle East, even the ones at odds with Iran, will react to that?

Credit: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The world once looked to the U.S. for leadership and aid in global health crises.

  • But the Trump administration has rejected global leadership in the fight against the coronavirus and much of the initial domestic response was focused on shoring up the economy.

Compare this with China’s response. After a series of early decisions that allowed the coronavirus to spread rapidly in China (and thus abroad), China’s leaders made a 180 degree turn and implemented a set of unprecedented measures, including quarantining entire cities, to get the epidemic under control.

  • As the growth in the number of new cases in China slows, Beijing’s leaders are ramping up a nascent bid for global public health leadership in the fight against the coronavirus.
  • China is sending masks and diagnostic swabs to Italy, which is in the throes of a severe outbreak.
  • China sent a team to assist Iran.

What they’re saying: “The 2009 financial crisis was a decisive moment emboldening Beijing […]

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