China’s coronavirus success boosts confidence that its system is the best answer to the country’s challenges
- China’s leading Politburo said last week that it had achieved ‘an extremely extraordinary glory in this extremely unusual year’
- China is set to be the only Group of 20 nation to post economic growth in 2020, with the likes of the US, Europe Union, Britain and Japan still struggling with lockdowns
The year 2020 started off with huge challenges for China, but it is ending as a year of victory for Beijing and the ruling Communist Party.
It offered Beijing fresh confidence in its own values and capabilities. This, in turn, will leave a mark on China’s political, economic, diplomatic and even military decisions in the coming years.
China’s trajectory in 2020 has offered strong support for the belief that China is on the right path while liberal democracy is in decline
Some may complain about the huge human and social costs involved in China’s rigid testing and quarantines, and others may continue to question whether China’s handling of the coronavirus in the early days missed an opportunity to contain its global spread, but it does not change the fact that China’s results are among the best.
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Returning to Wuhan one year since the Chinese city became ground zero of the Covid-19 pandemic
China’s success in dealing with the coronavirus, in contrast to the United States, Europe, Britain and Japan, offers evidence for China’s leaders to convince themselves and the Chinese people that the strong, centralised rule of the Communist Party is a blessing for the country, especially in times of challenge.
China’s trajectory in 2020 has offered strong support for the belief that China is on the right path while liberal democracy is in decline.
Talks about guo yun, or a nation’s luck, now leads to the conclusion that China, after nearly two hundred years of humiliation, poverty and chaos, is finally going to have its own moment.
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Coronavirus ground zero market still closed in Wuhan, China almost a year since start of pandemic
Some may discredit this narrative as propaganda that is amplified by Chinese media, a huge echo chamber that censors different voices, but it would be foolish to ignore the psychology behind China’s policies.
A confident Beijing, with a strong belief in its chosen path, governance system, theories and culture, is set to be more vocal in defending its political and value systems, especially in the face of perceived external hostilities.
In this sense, 2020 may be the opening chapter in the head-to-head competition between the different value systems.
