Only Global Agencies Can Save the World From Covid-19
If rich nations want to preserve the liberal order, they must invest in the institutions that can help poorer countries survive this crisis.
Even India doesn’t qualify for the Fed’s swap lines.
Photographer: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
This pandemic is the first truly global crisis since China began to challenge the liberal order that has underpinned global cooperation since World War II. It is primarily a public health challenge, yes. But, whether we like it or not, it’s also a geopolitical contest.
Chinese leaders know this. That’s why they have publicized their shipments of masks and other equipment to various countries, even if some products have turned out to be faulty. It is also why senior diplomats and propaganda outlets have tried to push conspiracy theories that the virus did not emerge from Wuhan, or even from China at all.