Is China losing its leadership knot?

Coronavirus was broken out in Wuhan, China in 2019. When the virus was spreading in China, various countries around the world imposed sanctions on the country. China's adversaries like the US and India imposed blockades. China’s main allies like Russia and North Korea also cut off all contact with it.

As a result, China's economic situation was likely to collapse. But thanks to the extraordinary leadership of the Chinese government, the Covid-19 pandemic was controlled inside less than three months.

That’s why China was viewed as a good example of pandemic control. This huge achievement of China helped it to get a place in the leadership seat.

First of all, the USA pulled out its enrollment from the WHO, which was a tremendous open door for China. Because without the USA, China got the shot to take the lead in controlling the coronavirus from the front. 

Besides, China didn’t retaliate but extended a helping hand to all countries by providing masks, PCR machines, PPE, and other medical kits. Along these lines, China’s economy keeps on booming quickly. That’s why China got a big advantage to spread its dominance over the world.

But in 2020, China became so engrossed in ‘dirty’ politics that it lost the chance to show its monopoly superiority to the world. Where 2020 was viewed as a huge opportunity for China, China seemed to be losing its chance on its own. 

At first, when Covid-19 was first identified in Wuhan, Wuhan's physician Li Wenliang warned the authority about the new disease. But the authority didn’t heed the warning, they rebuked Wenliang for spreading ‘rumors’.

Even the Chinese authorities didn’t inform the WHO about the new disease. That’s why around 90 million individuals have been infected by Covid-19 and about 2 million people have died so far. Due to China’s indifference, Trump mentioned the coronavirus a ‘Chinese virus' and a negative attitude towards China is spreading in the Western world. Consequently, the Western world is reluctant to give China a solitary leadership role.

Simultaneously, China’s animosity in South Asia and the Asia-Pacific location has become a migraine for the USA. Particularly, in May 2020, when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in the Sino-Indian clash, the USA became very anxious about its ally India.

Because China considers the Galwan Valley as its property. Besides, China continues its raid in Nepal and Bhutan also. Even Sri Lanka handed over the Hambantota Port for 99 years to China as Sri Lanka failed to pay its dues. As a result, the Trump administration was concerned about the security of South Asia.

Also, China’s military expansion in the Pacific region is seen as a threat to the US allies Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam. Besides, Australia claimed that China was trying to manipulate Australia's internal politics by making thousands of fake WeChat accounts to discredit Australian Prime Minister. Even China was condemned for building intelligence networks at Australian universities.

Thus, China's invasion of South Asia and the Pacific region was seen as browbeating to democracies. That’s why the US President Trump and his Secretary of State Pompeo introduced the ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’ last year to protect the territory from Chinese hostility. Not only India and South-East Asian countries but also Japan and Australia are involved in this scheme.

The EU had documented a complaint against China to the WTO alleging intellectual property theft. USA, UK, Canada, the EU have often accused the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of stealing information from their technology users.

Even the Chinese Constitution empowers the government to steal data from the users. Furthermore, there are several acts in the Chinese Constitution that claims that the Chinese government has the right to receive information from Chinese companies. In 2020, the British government disallowed Huawei's 5G network construction.

Moreover, China has been trapping several African countries for many years as those African countries were unable to repay debts to China for China’s development programs. In consequence, China has occupied several seaports and strategic locations in Africa. Experts mention it as a ‘debt trap by China'.

So it’s a reflection of China’s desire to become a ‘world dictator'. Its authoritarian attitude has pushed it out of that place. The number of enemies of China is increasing day by day.

(Ashiq Iqbal Jishad studies International Relations at the University of Dhaka.)