China Briefing | Coronavirus leaves China to rule the world? Truth is, it’s neither ready nor willing

It has become commonplace to suggest China will emerge stronger from the pandemic and try to fill the void on the global stage left by a retreating US

But media rhetoric aside, in this time of crisis Xi Jinping – like Mao 50 years ago – will be keen to prioritise the country’s own affairs

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned the country to prepare for “worst-case scenarios”. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:30am, 16 May 2020Updated: 12:11pm, 16 May 2020

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, China faced the worst possible international environment since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949. Long isolated by the Western powers, China fought a brief, bloody border clash over Zhenbao Island with the Soviet Union in 1969, prompting international concerns of a new World War involving nuclear weapons.

To prepare for the worst-case scenario, China’s leader Mao Zedong called on the masses to “deeply dig tunnels, extensively store grain, and never seek hegemony”. Beijing’s rising fears of Moscow had led Mao to shift China’s global strategy and seek to mend ties with its long-time enemy the United States, paving the way for China’s eventual return to the international community.

Now 50 years later, the circumstances have changed dramatically. China and Russia give the appearance of being best buddies even though they are not yet allies. Relations between Beijing and Washington, meanwhile, are going from bad to worse.

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But Mao’s famous slogan still resonates in Beijing’s corridors of power and is worth revisiting if one tries to understand how China views the fast-changing international dynamics hastened by the coronavirus pandemic.

As the great powers including Beijing and Washington manoeuvre for a post-Covid-19 world of rising uncertainties, the line of thinking that China will emerge stronger from the crisis and try to fill the global leadership void left by a retreating US has gained credence among analysts and commentators.

On the one end of the spectrum, that view is put forward by Kishore Mahbubani, a former Singaporean diplomat and an influential thinker, who recently argued in an article for The Economist magazine that the pandemic could mark the start of an Asian century led by China. He compared Asian countries’ efficient handling of the outbreak and effective governance to the incompetent response of the West.

On the other end of the spectrum are right-wing commentators in the US like Tucker Carlson of Fox News, who claimed Beijing had taken advantage of the chaos to advance its plan to “rule the world”. He too said the disaster could herald “a new Chinese century”.

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