China Briefing | Coronavirus: a chance for China to boost its world standing?
- China and US should join hands to lead the fight against the looming pandemic
- Once the fight is over, China must take more forceful measures to push for reform and opening up to restore the confidence of investors
In certain ways, the continuing fallout serves as a trial run for deglobalisation and the scene isn’t pretty as borders are closed to travellers from China and other affected countries, flights cancelled, factories shut, services disrupted, the global supply chain stalled, and racism rears its ugly head.
The epidemic may have peaked in China, where it has killed about 2,800 people and infected over 78,000 others, but it has started to spill over into Japan, South Korea, Europe and the Middle East, raising fears of a global pandemic and a worldwide economic downturn. The rising concerns sent global stock markets into a tailspin last week.
In the worst-case scenario of a global pandemic, analysts at Oxford Economics estimated the coronavirus outbreak could wipe as much as US$1.1 trillion from world gross domestic product.