Beijing, March 9 (China Review News, reporter: Haihan) -- Wang Dong, executive director of the Institute For China-US People-to-People Exchange of Peking University and author of Re-Globalization: A New Perspective on Understanding China's Interaction with the World(Social Science Academic Press, 2018), has been interviewed by China Review News about the global impact of COVID-19. He said that while actively preventing and controlling the national COVID-19 epidemic, China has also provided assistance to other countries and regions within its capacity, actively participated in global public health governance, and promoted international cooperation in transnational joint prevention and control, which shows the responsibility of the leader of "re-globalization". This epidemic has made the world experience the economic pain caused by China's "shutdown". It has also made people realize that the world cannot develop without China, nor can China prosper without the world.

Wang Dong said the spread of COVID-19 in many countries was a striking manifestation of the globalization of "nontraditional security threats". Nontraditional security issues, such as communicable diseases, are transnational, uncertain and collaborative. They are common challenges facing all mankind. Therefore, the international community needs to work together to deal with them.

Mr. Wang believes that for China, Japan and South Korea, the outbreak of COVID-19 is also an important opportunity to unleash the potential and expand the space of trilateral cooperation. Despite such issues as historical understanding and territorial disputes, China, Japan and South Korea have demonstrated the international morality of mutual understanding, friendship, coordination and cooperation in the face of the epidemic challenges. Not only did the leaders maintain close communication with each other, but also the people actively and spontaneously provided support and help. Many touching stories have emerged during this outbreak. The year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of trilateral cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea, and the trilateral leaders' meeting was successfully held in Chengdu last year. The trilateral relations between China, Japan and South Korea have entered a new era. We believe that the trilateral cooperation between these three countries can also reach a new level through the response to the current outbreak.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is widely regarded as a factor that may accelerate the "decoupling" of China from external markets. In this regard, Wang Dong said that the "decoupling theory" of the separation of the Chinese economy from the West which vigorously advocated by the extreme hawks of the United States and the hardliners against China in the recent Sino-US trade war, has reached a pitch. With the signing of Sino-US economic and trade agreement in the first phase, bilateral economic and trade frictions have eased. But with the outbreak of COVID-19, the "decoupling theory" has come back.

Mr. Wang said, from an objective perspective, the outbreak would have a temporary impact on China and the world economy, but it would never lead to economic decoupling. With the in-depth development of "economic globalization", China has become the largest export destination and the largest commodity importer of many countries in the world, and its economy is closely connected with the world economy. As the "world’s factory ", China has the most complete industrial chain in the world. It is impossible for the outbreak to cause the rupture and decoupling which played up by some western public opinion. On the contrary, this epidemic has made the world experience the economic pain caused by China's "shutdown", and has also made people realize that the world cannot develop without China, nor can China prosper without the world.

As to whether the COVID-19 outbreak will promote the accelerating process of anti-globalization driven by politics, Wang Dong said that since the birth of "globalization", the controversy around it has never stopped, which also gave rise to "anti-globalization", so some people described it as a "double-edged sword". Anti-globalization stems from the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the deterioration of the ecological environment and the increase of economic risks, etc. brought about by globalization." Slowbalization " is also largely a response to these problems. From this perspective, the outbreak of the COVID-19 in the world will inevitably make critics more radical and pose challenges to globalization.

"But neither anti-globalization nor slowbalization represents the end of globalization," Mr. Wang said. Instead, globalization has entered a new stage. The reform of the globalization process by emerging countries represented by China, as well as the model upgrade and capacity expansion effects generated by this reform, can be called "re-globalization". Re-globalization, driven by emerging powers, promotes politically oriented globalization by providing public goods and conducting global governance, and fills the gap between low-level globalization and high-level globalization.

Will China's "Belt and Road" initiative be negatively affected byCOVID-19? Wang Dong said that the outbreak of COVID-19 will indeed have a negative impact on China's economic development and foreign cooperation, mainly reflected in personnel exchanges, trade, project construction, supply of equipment and other aspects. However, this impact is staged and temporary, and will gradually recover as Chinese companies resume production. Meanwhile, China and the “Belt and Road” partners support and help each other in politics, goods and materials and other aspects, which reflects the energy of life and vitality of the “Belt and Road”.

Mr. Wang points out, the COVID-19 actually has also created an opportunity to promote the "Belt and Road" cooperation and even "re-globalization". When fighting against the epidemic, China has adhered to the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, fully participated in global public health governance, improved governance mechanism reform, actively carried out "international anti-epidemic cooperation" with the "Belt and Road" partners, and jointly addressed non-traditional security challenges. In the process of "re-globalization", China deeply participates and shows its responsibility, and contribute to a fairer, just, open, broad and inclusive globalization.

At present, populism has formed a momentum in the world. Will the global outbreak of COVID-19 make populism or racism more prevalent? Wang Dong said that an important reason for the emergence of "anti-globalization" lies in the prevalence of populism. The outbreak will have a knock-on effect on globalization, and will surely provoked populists. These people may oppose globalization, exclude foreigners, boycott foreign goods, incite racial hatred, and call for protectionism in the name of preventing COVID-19. The current anti-Chinese phenomenon in some countries has a certain similar tendency, which should be on the alert.

Mr. Wang believes that in the era of globalization, the destinies of all countries are connected and interrelated. Populism cannot be immune from the COVID-19, but will only lock its doors against the world. Therefore, to fight against COVID-19, what we need is not selfish populism, but the spirit of building a community of shared future for mankind. While actively preventing and controlling the national epidemic, China has also provided assistance within its capacity to other countries and regions, actively participated in global public health governance, and promoted international cooperation in transnational joint prevention and control, which shows the responsibility of the leader of "re-globalization".

Source: China Review News