Virus shakes image of Western superiority

By Kang Seung-woo

As the world confronts the coronavirus crisis, Western countries have been showing signs of surprising weakness. Meanwhile, Asian countries, including Korea, Taiwan and China, have been praised for their responses to the fast-spreading virus.

The United States and some European countries have been struggling to contain the virus. There have been reports of ugly incidents from hoarding daily necessities to racist attacks against Asians.

Some analysts believe the global image of Western developed countries has been damaged since they have failed to live up to expectations of competence. The result could be a decline in Western influence around the world.

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"It is true that there are signs that the image [of the West] is changing," said Park Won-gon, a professor of international politics at Handong Global University. "The U.S., the world's most powerful country, was not the same one which played a leading role in dealing with the Ebola virus, as shown by medical staff begging for protective gear. In addition, European countries, regarded as among the most advanced, initially appeared defenseless against the coronavirus.

"On the other hand, China ― although it was the epicenter of the virus outbreak ― has now gotten it under control, while Korea has become an exemplary case for others, which supports the shift in perceptions."

Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University, said, "The horrible toll that COVID-19 has taken in the U.S., the U.K., Italy and other European countries ― compared to the ability of Korea and Taiwan to flatten their epidemic curves ― has led commentators like Kishore Mahbubani [Singapore's foremost public intellectual] to declare the start of a new era of international politics led by Asian competence and confidence."
"It is true that COVID-19 testing, contact tracing, isolation and treatment have produced better results in countries that were quick and effective in their implementation," he added.

The different public responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and the West have at times been stark. Political leaders, such as U.S. President Donald Trump, have engaged in a witch hunt by blaming China for the virus. This has promoted growing racism and xenophobia against Asians. In addition to cases of hoarding consumer goods such as toilet paper, bogus conspiracy theories have flourished. One in the U.K. claims that 5G alters people's immune systems and changes people's DNA to make them more susceptible to COVID-19 infections, which has led people to set 5G towers on fire and threaten network engineers.

Park said it is certain that Western countries will see their global dominance wane as a result of the pandemic. "The EU has enjoyed global influence due to its union, but it is now showing signs of disintegration, which will undermine its clout," he said.

But Easley warned that while the West's global influence has already been on a decline, it is not clear whether the pandemic will accelerate this trend. "It is too soon to extrapolate this to larger trends about good governance and international order," he noted.

"Some global trends will accelerate, others will be redirected. China's preeminence is not assured, nor is its rise over. Rather, it is increasingly clear how China is an outsized variable for globalization and multilateral cooperation. There is still much to be determined before the world defeats COVID-19, and then in terms of how international relations will proceed in the post-pandemic era."

Park agrees that more time is needed to see how the situation will develop. "The full extent of the coronavirus has appeared earlier in the U.S., Europe and member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development than in developing countries," he said.

"Although advanced countries botched their response to the virus, it remains to be seen whether developing nations in South America and Africa will deal with the disease better than developed ones."

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