Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua
John Lee Cheong Seong
Opinion

Opinion

John Lee Cheong Seong

Beijing tried to use the coronavirus crisis to enhance its global standing. It’s not working

  • Despite American errors and poor leadership, the pandemic only proves that the foundations of underlying strength are still solid for the United States and fragile for China

John Lee Cheong Seong
John Lee Cheong Seong

Updated: 12:40pm, 14 Apr, 2020

Why you can trust SCMP
Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese President Xi Jinping takes part in a tree-planting event in Beijing on April 3 amid the coronavirus pandemic. Despite China’s ‘mask diplomacy’, the rest of the world is arguably paying the price for its missteps in the early days of the outbreak. Photo: Xinhua
READ FULL ARTICLE
John Lee Cheong Seong

John Lee Cheong Seong

Dr John Lee is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the United States Studies Centre in Sydney. From 2016-2018, he was senior national security adviser to the Australian foreign minister.