US, China flags
US, China flagsIstock

On Monday President Xi stated: “As we cope with the current crisis and endeavor to make a better day for everyone, we need to stand united and work together.”

It is therefore interesting to analyse all the areas where China is committed to working together with the EU, United States and other global partners in an attempt at resolving the most pressing challenges facing the world today.

It is fair to say that the world is still grappling with major international and global issues – pandemics, international terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and the risks inherent to pollution and climate change.

Economists and political analysts agree that, in order of priority, the two most important challenges facing President Biden today are the coronavirus and economy.

Having in mind that the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US harder than any other country in the world, one must wonder what are the lessons it is teaching us. First and foremost, a similar scenario needs to be avoided in the future conclusion as to when, how and why everything happened the way it happened.

I’m afraid that the only answer available so far is where the virus has come from. It is certainly good that the U.S. renews its status in the World Health Organisation (WHO), but it can hardly bring the world closer to understanding what exactly happened in Wuhan. China has repeatedly refused to allow WHO experts to gather information needed to develop conclusions.

The same goes for the global climate. It is appreciated that Mr. Biden has undone Trump’s choice, deciding to take part in global climate action instead, but it has no impact on the Chinese position though. Needless to say, the presence of Chinese enterprises always carries huge environmental risks. It goes hand in hand with a serious lack of transparency in almost any investment project China has run not only in Africa (where the country is already in control of 90% of natural resources), but in the Balkans, too, bringing us into the state of play between the European Union (EU) and China.

It’s safe to say that the EU is unable to deal with any challenges coming from China, partially due to its own problems (e.g. Brexit), but mainly because of uncertainties lingering around the Union’s new, redesigned foreign policy.

There is also a plausible threat that in this set of circumstances the Chinese Communist Party may push stronger on issues such as technology, territorial goals and human rights. In addition, the fact that China has put a lid on the coronavirus more successfully than both the U.S. and the EU may generate a different kind of problems. For instance, the Hungarian prime minister, Mr. Orban, relies more enthusiastically on Chinese loans and investments lacking transparency than the rule of law, the EU values, assistance and agreements Hungary signed when the country joined the Union. He is also applying for Chinese vaccines stating that Hungary cannot rely on European solidarity any longer. It seems that the Chinese vaccine comes together with the mediocre status of democracy, human rights and media freedoms.

The Freedom House has already warned of the tendency in its recent reports, describing Hungary as a hybrid regime. The same is true for the Balkans, struggling to cope with China’s increased influence, detrimental to their democracy and overall prosperity alike. China has effectively exercised political and economic coercion in the states of the region, using the Belt and Road Initiative “to shape their policies toward Chinese benefit and interests” as the U.S. Centre for Strategic and International Studies suggested in August 2020. Unsurprisingly, Germany’s Der Spiegel weekly wrote about an open letter signed by 100 renowned China experts, researches and human rights activists across the globe, calling for the EU institutions, which the letter was addressed to, to suspend the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI).

Despite what Mr.Orban claims there is (always) another way; only in December Israel initiated a nationwide vaccination program targeted at people aged 60 and over, health-care workers, and people with comorbid conditions. By February, 84 percent of the population aged 70 and up had been completely immunized with the Pfizer-BioNTech two-shot vaccine, according to the researchers. Key rational behind this was that Israeli state decided to pay significantly more than the EU, demonstrating clear responsibility for overall public health and national economic outlook.

Again, the EU seems to be completely incapable of acting alone, throwing in the towel on its political influence and the much needed development of democracy in those countries. It is however expected that Mr. Biden will build much stronger ties between the U.S. and the Union than his predecessor did. This, in return, may contribute to resolving some of the issues, and hopefully it will, as it’s no secret that a strong Europe requires U.S. involvement in the process, which unfortunately has been missing over the past four years.

“Cooperation is the only correct choice for both sides,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, said on Tuesday. It remains unclear what kind of cooperation Mr. Lijian was referring to, unless he was suggesting that the focus of the 46th President of the United States would not clash with Beijing at all.

Yet the success of Mr. Biden’s foreign policy in the future will be the fundamental point of an impartial assessment of his presidency. What’s clear to everyone is that status quo is no longer possible. All available data suggest that China will surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest economy by 2028, mainly due to coronavirus fallout. It clearly indicates that a new potential crisis might additionally narrow the gap in the near future, again at the expense of the U.S. and its trade relations with China. One final question is whether the States and the rest of the developed democratic world should allow that the majority of global production processes be outsourced to China.

Does it make any sense to promote clean transportation and electric vehicles if at the same time China controls nearly 90% of lithium production, indispensable in the production of car batteries? Not to mention that global penicillin production has been almost completely moved to China. Is this the way “cooperation” will look in the future? Should Tesla be exported exclusively from China? Should our health rely solely on those whose exchange with the WHO can hardly be described as meaningful?

One final question: Does Mr. Biden have any room to let it happen? I don’t think so.

Dr. Vladimir Krulj is an Economics Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London