Sunday, as President Trump sought to deflect criticism for lacks of medical equipment by accusing hospital personnel of taking masks, numerous airplane bring much-needed supplies from China were arriving at airports in Europe and Africa. The Irish government posted a clip revealing its ambassador to China thanking authorities for helping organize a shipment of products worth $30 million.
China’s government was slammed for its sluggish response to the coronavirus and early attempts to cover it up. Now, with the illness reportedly under control and factories reopening, China is exporting essential supplies to other countries, an effort to rebrand the pandemic from a disaster of its own making to a sign of its management and strength.
” China is building its soft power,” says Nouriel Roubini, an economist at NYU who was an advisor to presidents Clinton and Obama. “They are going to utilize this crisis to say, ‘Our political system is much better, our technological model is better, our economic model is much better.'”
Having apparently weathered the outbreak and increase production of medical devices, China is well placed to export and donate products. The efforts, together with propaganda focused on the government’s reaction to the outbreak, appear to be part of a coordinated campaign to both do humanitarian good and promote China’s worths.
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Roubini states China’s seemingly quick rebound offers an effective message that might extend the country’s impact. And he states the crisis may have extensive ramifications for the global balance of power if the US doesn’t come up with a suitable counterplay. “The political, financial, and social
