The World According to China. Elizabeth C. Economy

The World According to China - Elizabeth C. Economy


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of the genome as early as December 27, a full two weeks before it was released to the public.) In addition, the WHO’s chief of emergencies, who had praised China publicly, claimed in an internal meeting that China was not cooperating the way other countries – such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo – did during the Ebola outbreak.67

      Figure 1.2 Comparison of global levels of faith in Xi Jinping from 2019 to 2020

      Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2020/10/06/unfavorable-views-of-china-reach-historic-highs-in-many-countries/

      By the time it joined COVAX, China had already vaccinated one million people domestically and in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Peru, and Argentina. But there was growing concern in the international scientific community over Beijing’s lack of transparency in its vaccine trials. China had not provided information concerning the vaccine trial results, leaving the international community questioning the efficacy and safety of the vaccines.70 It was not until April 2021 that the head of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fu, acknowledged that the efficacy of the country’s vaccines was relatively low and measures should be taken to improve their protection rates. (He later asserted that his comments had been misinterpreted.)71

      China’s international credibility had suffered a blow the previous month as well when WHO experts finally gained access to China for their long-promised investigation. Several delegation members raised concerns over the Chinese government’s failure to provide access to critical data. Even Tedros called on China to be more forthcoming and stated that the trip report did not provide an “extensive enough” assessment of the possibility that the virus originated in a lab.72

      The chapters outlined below explore in detail how Xi has utilized this model and the consequences – both intended and unintended – for his ability to realize his broader strategic objectives. Chapter 2 outlines how China utilizes soft, sharp, and hard power to shape the perceptions and policy preferences of other actors and evaluates the relative strengths and weaknesses of these tools. It argues that context matters. Countries that are geographically distant from China, for example, are typically less concerned about the country’s deployment of hard power than those in its backyard. And while multinationals often succumb to Chinese coercive economic leverage, countries generally do not. Perhaps most surprisingly, the level of Chinese trade and investment does not correlate closely with countries’ support for Beijing on other issues, such as its policies in Xinjiang or its actions in the South China Sea. Other factors matter more.

      Chapter 3 delves into the heart of Xi’s rejuvenation ambition: the creation of a unified China. It investigates how China realized its sovereignty claims in Hong Kong, and the steps it is taking to make progress in the South China Sea and Taiwan. It reveals that China’s willingness to use soft power, as opposed to more coercive or even military actions, diminishes rather than expands as opposition among other actors to its sovereignty efforts grows. China is also willing to ignore international law, such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and to endure significant disequilibrium in the international system in pursuit of its sovereignty objectives. One consequence of China’s use of economic coercion and military power has been to bolster the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Japan, India, the United States, and Australia) and to invite deeper military engagement from actors outside the region, such as Germany, France, and the UK. This expanding coalition challenges Xi’s ability to make further progress on his sovereignty ambitions for the South China Sea and Taiwan.


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