Abstract
This paper gauges COVID-19’s effect on global public perception of China and the likely implications for China’s development model and international influence. How does COVID-19 affect China’s exercise of soft power and the international community’s appraisal of it? Using global perception data from the Pew Research Centre, the paper argues that COVID-19 is likely to have dire consequences on China’s soft power and international influence based on the soft power theory. Specifically, China lost a chance to present the attractiveness of its development model – Beijing Consensus – and establish credibility for global leadership due to the universal perception of the relationship between the pandemic and China despite the country’s international efforts. The paper concludes that this will validate people’s opinions about China and accelerate an already existing trend – unfavourable image. The paper serves as a new scientific contribution to the literature on soft power and foreign policy.
Highlights
China notified the world of a virus outbreak in late December 2019
Its domestic failures to manage COVID-19 could assume that the liberal order has come to an end
This does not mean that China stands to gain because it has already lost the trust of the global public and even leaders
Summary
China notified the world of a virus outbreak in late December 2019. By the time the country was able to bring the virus under control, it was peaking across the globe. As the world is still dealing with COVID19, it is essential to examine how the world’s people view China and the implications for China’s development model and international image and influence This is the overarching purpose of the present paper. China lost a chance to present the attractiveness of its development model – Beijing Consensus – and establish credibility for global leadership due to the universal perception of the relationship between the pandemic and China despite the country’s strenuous international efforts This will validate people’s opinions about China and accelerate an already existing trend – unfavourable image. It briefly describes the global public narrative or perception about the virus outbreak It assesses China’s developmental strategy – Beijing Consensus – as a soft power resource.
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