China After the Pandemic

China After the Pandemic

Asian and African Relations Department | Foreign and Security Policy

On 1 December 2020, in the framework of Antall József Knowledge Centre’s Foreign and Security Policy Firsthand programme series, our institute organised an online discussion entitled China After the Pandemic. The role of the moderator was fulfilled by Norbert Miklós, International Relations Manager at the Asian and African Relations Department of AJKC, while speakers of the discussion were China-experts, Gergely Salát and Viktor Eszterhai, who expressed their views on the expected short and long term economic, political and social consequences of the pandemic from the perspective of the Asian great power.

At the beginning of the discussion, the speakers argued that the pandemic, as a result of the extraordinary measures introduced by the government, has essentially ended in China, and the country has great chances for a positive outlook with respect to vaccine development. As for the economic consequences of the pandemic, Chinese firms deeply engaged in global trade have been affected the most by the current crisis. Despite the negative aspects, the support for the Communist Party of China has increased in the country in general, due to the relatively successful management of the health and economic crisis. The experts agreed that the ideologisation of the problem has worsened the management of the pandemic globally, while unfavourable views about China have reached historic highs in many countries, mostly because of the so called “mask diplomacy”, which has definitely backfired on the Asian country.

Finally, the speakers shared their prognosis on the foreseeable future regarding the global position of China. Today, China has undoubtedly become one of the centres of the world economy, and therefore, the transformation of its global political role is inevitable. The experts also highlighted that the fulfilment of the strategic aims and projects of the country will not be affected by the crisis caused by the pandemic, and the China policy of the currently forming Biden administration is not expected to have drastic impact on the US-China relations.

Our speakers

Gergely SALÁT Head of Institute, Institute of International Relations and Politics, Pázmány Péter Catholic University

Viktor ESZTERHAI Senior researcher, Pallas Athene Geopolitical Institut

Moderator: Norbert MIKLÓS International Relations Manager, Antall József Knowledge Centre

 

Watch the discussion again!

Asian and African Relations Department