1. Combating China’s COVID-19 Propaganda Offensive to Undermine the United States on the Global Stage
- Author:
- John Lee
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Hudson Institute
- Abstract:
- Throughout the United States, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is exploiting COVID-19 in an effort to reshape the global order and enhance China’s international leadership at the expense of the US. A range of prominent commentators further assert that the Trump administration bears much of the blame for this turn of events. This argument tends to rest on twin assumptions:1 China is winning the battle of narratives when it comes to comparative national competence and its decisiveness in responding to its COVID-19 outbreak. The Trump administration is damaging America’s standing by getting off to a bad start in its response to the pandemic, exposing the underlying weaknesses of American institutions and preparedness for such a crisis. These arguments correctly acknowledge that the global pandemic is occurring within a context of US-China strategic, political, and economic competition and/or rivalry. This is the point of warnings to the administration that there is more at stake than containing and managing the virus, even if that is the immediate priority.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Economics, Health, National Security, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China and East Asia