Why Can China Still Promote the SDGs During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

SDGs are one of the most prominent agendas in todays global governance and are widely accepted by global society. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the regular process of implementing SDGs. Under tremendous stress, many countries progress in SDGs has been suspended or declined significantly. Still, China has withstood the impact of the pandemic and made progress in SDGs. This article aims to explain why China can still promote SDGs during the COVID-19 pandemic using process tracing methods. By analyzing how COVID-19 will affect accomplishing the SDGs and investigating Chinese efforts to address these issues, this article concludes three main reasons that enable China to make progress in SDGs: the overlap between SDGs and Chinas national strategic goals, the effective implementation institution design adopted by the Chinese government, and the broad social consensus and partnership that concern SDGs in China. Consequently, this article studied the unique experience and effective practice of China for implementing SDGs during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering learnable lessons for global governance and helping governments around the world better promote SDGs after the COVID-19 pandemic.