Do not let coronavirus disrupt world economy

Nevertheless, the coronavirus outbreak has caused global panic and evoked memories of nuclear accidents.

The world is going through an accidental disease-induced dislocation in every aspect of life. Coronavirus (Covid-19), has forced several countries or sections of countries to declare states of emergency in response to an unseen “enemy”. As the number of infections and deaths (now at 105,000 infections and 3,000 deaths), keeps rising globally, it is hard to find a global catastrophe of similar potent.

Coronavirus emanated from China, a country that has dominated the world in different aspects. China is a geo-political global force because of its growing prowess economically, in scientific and technological leaps, military muscle and adventurism in the limitless cyber world.

As a growing global power, it has sparked much envy in Western capitals and admiration from the developing world. The West has sought to discredit China, mostly in Africa, while spending a lot of time in Beijing trying to cut deals. That scenario has changed.

The outbreak of coronavirus in the Wuhan biological research area that has a lot of game meat, has obviously set tongues wagging. Something reportedly went very wrong and turned a delicacy of bat into a killer. So was coronavirus an accident?

Nevertheless, the coronavirus outbreak has caused global panic and evoked memories of nuclear accidents in the United States, Soviet Union and Japan. But since the nuclear accidents were limited to those countries, they were less serious than coronavirus which has leapt across borders and penetrated countries that initially thought it was a Chinese thing. Subsequent coronavirus infections and deaths in Europe, North America, Asia, and parts of Africa has led to countries adopting self-preservation policies.

Coronavirus has had consequences on China and the world. China went out of its way to assure the world that it was on top of the crisis. Chinese President Xi Jinping called US President Donald Trump to give that assurance. China also seized the opportunity to display technological efficiency.

It wowed the world by constructing two large hospitals, each within 10 days in Wuhan and turning stadia into health facilities. Although the self-quarantine was an attempt to limit the spread of the killer disease, the effort has seemingly failed because of widespread international travel. In addition, the outbreak has virtually paralysed movement of goods, people, and services to and from China, hurting the world’s economy.

Despite efforts to stop it, the coronavirus has kept on spreading to other countries, and regions as if to prove that it was not simply a Chinese thing. As fear of anything Chinese has increased across the globe, policymakers have gotten themselves into awkward dilemmas.

Given China’s global dominance in construction and infrastructural sectors, many countries have sought to downplay the negatives, partly in order to minimise disrupting ongoing national projects involving Chinese.

Kenya was one of the countries that were caught in the dilemma of whether to shut out all Chinese contacts or continue with critical engagements. It had stopped Kenya Airways flights to China, but continued to allow South China Airlines to land in Nairobi. This position backfired when a leaked video revealed passengers landing from China. The revelation—embarrassing as it was to the Government—is symbolic of the dilemma that countries face in balancing competing aspects of national interests in reaction to international crises.

Global challenges

Part of the coronavirus challenge is that detecting coronavirus is complicated by the fact that it takes roughly two weeks of incubation before its symptoms become evident. Subsequently, it is no longer just a Chinese thing; it is global. Having spread to the United States, Canada, Britain, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Nigeria and South Africa, the global economy is being dislocated.

Every country, therefore, must strike a balance in how it reacts to avoid under-reacting and therefore endangering public health or over-reacting and intensifying public panic that can also endanger other aspects of national interest. Coronavirus, therefore, diverts attention from other global challenges.

China’s premier position in the global economy and related world affairs is dented, but the spread of the epidemic to other major powers puts responsibility on China; it must pull up its socks and pull the world out of the growing economic dislocation.

Prof Munene teaches History and International Relations at USIU