Coronavirus: US-China decoupling may diminish Beijing’s role in G20 economic response
- The G20 is set to hold an emergency virtual summit next week where it will try to coordinate a global response to the coronavirus economic fallout
- But US-China decoupling and rising nationalism around the world could prevent Beijing from taking a lead role in fighting the virus, analysts say
US-China decoupling and rising nationalism around the globe may prevent Beijing from taking a leading role in the international economic response to the coronavirus crisis at next week’s G20 summit, analysts said.
Coordination among major powers, especially between the United States and China, has been fading since US President Donald Trump initiated his “American first” policy and the subsequent trade war with China two years ago, said Alex He Xingqiang, a research fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
“The key for successful coordination under the G20 is whether the US and China could forsake accusations and their decoupling for now and cooperate to fight the crisis caused by the pandemic,” said He, who is also a former senior fellow and associate professor at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
“[But] because of the decoupling … we do not see much coordination between the largest two economies in the world to fight for the global financial meltdown pushed by the Covid-19 pandemic. This explains China’s smaller contribution to global economic governance facing the coronavirus pandemic.”
