We should remain true to our core values, but recognise the need for a communitarian spirit
Is Covid-19 the virus that killed not just millions of people but also the supremacy of western economies, liberal values and convictions that democracy is the best form of government? As France and Belgium lead Europe back into national lockdowns and Britain is set to follow, no European country, whatever their record until now, is free from a surge in infections. The coronavirus experience in the United States will almost certainly cost Donald Trump the presidency. However, autocracies and communitarian societies in Asia are faring much better; China and a host of Asian countries are managing to contain the virus and grow their economies. Taiwan has not seen a locally transmitted case for more than six months.
None of this was lost on the top members of the Chinese Communist party who met last week to decide on their plans, not only for the next five years but the next 15. They agreed that China’s party-led collective development is at the heart of all its achievements and that this will now be even more vigorously promoted in its diplomacy, a coded reference to the belt-and-road initiative. This astonishing Chinese version of the postwar Marshall Plan, only many times larger, invites signatories in some 100 countries, in exchange for billions in aid to build up infrastructure, to accept and emulate China’s collective approach to economic and social development. There is to be no let-up.
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