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

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President Xi Jinping has said China is ready to share its experiences fighting the coronavirus outbreak with the rest of the world. Photo: AP

Published: 6:15pm, 20 Mar 2020Updated: 6:31pm, 29 Apr 2020

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.”

The Group of 20 (G20), which comprises the world’s top 20 developed and emerging economies, is set to hold an emergency virtual meeting next week, where China will participate in international efforts to combat the fallout from the pandemic.

During the global financial crisis crisis in 2008, China was a key player in international efforts to avert the threat of global depression, helping Asian countries escape the global economic downturn relatively unscathed.

Before attending the G20 summit in Washington in November of that year, China enacted a 4 trillion yuan (US$569 billion) stimulus package, joining the US’ call for coordinated large-scale fiscal stimulus designed to save the world. It also committed US$50 billion to bolster the International Monetary Fund’s crisis-fighting capacity.