TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Yuan Nansheng (袁南生), vice president of the China Institute of International Relations, on Wednesday (April 29) said in an interview with Beijing-based Finance and Economics Magazine that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) would change the world order and that China, which has enjoyed more than a decade of strategic opportunities, would experience a certain degree of “de-Sinicization.”
Yuan, who served as a Chinese diplomat in India and the U.S., praised his country's epidemic performance but pointed out that it was wrong for Chinese to gloat over other countries’ outbreaks. While some citizens have predicted the pandemic would be a “historical opportunity” for China's rise, he said this is a strategic misjudgment, CNA reported.
Yuan added that some Chinese have viewed the pandemic situation abroad with a condescending attitude, which he said demonstrates a lack of understanding of global affairs and shows misguided national pride has permeated into Chinese society over the years.
Asked what impact the pandemic would have on the current world order, Yuan stated that globalization would diminish to a certain extent and that U.S.-China relations would be further strained and even go through a period of de-Sinicization. In addition, he said the World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations were likely to weaken and falter, allowing the U.S. and its allies to establish new global agencies as they distance themselves from China.
However, Yuan believes that the U.S. and China were unlikely to completely decouple, particularly in the areas of technology, investment, industry, education, and talent. As long as economic and trade exchanges are intertwined, the two countries cannot be separated.
The former diplomat emphasized that China should avoid conflict with the U.S. by being strategically patient, not rushing to achieve success, and by safeguarding the nation’s core interests and preventing strategic misjudgments.
Yuan concluded that that the U.S. and China were still advancing and that neither has been complacent. In the foreseeable future, however, he predicted the U.S. would continue to possess technological, military, and financial hegemony, remaining the world's primary superpower for many years to come.
