A frightened world hurtling towards a massive recession is looking for cooperation and coordination.
These will enable it to effectively tackle Covid-19 and coronavirus, the pathogen that causes it, and the global pandemic the two have wrought.
The United States of America, the most powerful country in the world and, to many, the go-to-leader in times of global crisis, has, under President Donald Trump, turned its back on world leadership.
But even when looking inward, under Mr Trump’s America First policy, Washington has stumbled as it denied coronavirus threatened America, and fumbled as it pretended it had every tool in place to contain the pandemic.
China, the rising power many proclaim will overtake the US as an economic and military powerhouse in two decades, and bring back a bipolar world, has not risen to the occasion either.
It is digging in to fight to protect its image and benefit economically from the crisis. Shunning global leadership, Washington and Beijing have been bashing each other over who owns the dreadful coronavirus.
The latter fingers the US military, but President Trump provokingly calls the pathogen a Chinese virus.
Rather than lead the world in stopping Covid-19 and the looming recession, these two have chosen to skirmish in a quarrel which says they are happy to compete rather than cooperate.
They relish one-on-one conflict and close combat rather than coordinate a broad and global anti-coronavirus enterprise. This is why President Trump nails coronavirus on the Chinese mast.
By doing so, he resurrects the external enemy of his successful 2016 campaign, re-energises the Grand Old Party base, and adds fuel to the fire of the trade war with Beijing. Yes, all politics is local.
Beijing, for its part, regards Washington as the long-in-the-tooth patriarch of yesteryear’s superpower order who is refusing to recognise, much less concede to, the new claimant to the throne of global power.
In Beijing’s eyes, the throne of superpower, Washington’s monopoly since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989, must soon be shared if not usurped from America.
Beijing is ready to fight every obstacle placed in its way by Washington to that end.
And as the pandemic hits America and Mr Trump concedes the next two weeks portend catastrophe, Beijing has ramped up its propaganda machine.
It has also ordered its factories into full-scale war effort-style production of medical equipment.
Topping the list are basic personal protection equipment (PPE) such as face masks, goggles, gowns/aprons, shoes/clogs and gloves.
And the factories are also producing must-have ICU articles, such as ventilators, at full tilt. These the world desperately needs.
President Xi Jinping’s objective is twofold: one, erase or bury memories of it’s initial cover-up of the extent of the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan city and the draconian militaristic methods used to contain it.
Therefore, Beijing is sending medics and equipment to Italy, it’s European ally in dire need of help and solidarity. Call that corona diplomacy because Beijing is positioning itself as the saviour of those ravaged by the coronavirus.
Two, the crisis has provided China with an excellent opportunity to profit and help its economy, battered by US sanctions and now weighed down by the Wuhan shutdown, get back on track.
Beijing is positioning itself to grow its economy strongly post-coronavirus. Again all politics is local.
Perturbingly, the United Nations Security Council has not yet considered Covid-19 a serious security threat to the world.
This as a largely shutdown Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic, which has overwhelmed Italy and devastated Spain.
Surely, when the sick overwhelm a world class health service such as Italy’s or Spain’s; when developed countries such as Britain and Germany are forced into weeks of lockdown, the UNSC must not sit on its hands.
Alas, the European Union has also abandoned Italy and Spain, even as President Trump turned on the union and banned Europeans from visiting America.
A virtual meeting last month failed to provide leadership for Europe. Indeed, the EU, or specifically Germany, the economic powerhouse of Europe, refused calls from Rome and Madrid for a Covid-19-anchored Marshall Plan and corona-based loans.
The two capitals were referred to the EU’s lending facility that wreaked penury on the Greeks post-the 2008 global economic meltdown. Beijing lapped it all up.
Covid-19 is driving the world to meltdown, but UNSC, EU, an established super power and an emergent rival are lethargic to lead.
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