LONDON – The global coronavirus pandemic has intensified the US-China rivalry, exacerbating future instability in international diplomatic relations, according to an annual report on global risks at the World Economic Forum.
The report, which builds on the views of hundreds of directors and academics associated with the WEF, as well as risk managers, says the pandemic threatens to widen revenues and other disparities within and between societies, increasing the risk of further fractures within states and in international relations.
Covid-19 “rooted state power and intensified rivalry between the United States and China,” the report said, forcing other powers to choose the parties.
“With the weakening of some alliances, diplomatic relations will become more unstable at the points where the tectonic plates of the superpower meet or retreat,” he says. This trend has been accentuated because the lack of face-to-face discussions has affected traditional diplomacy.
The report is usually published just before the annual WEF meeting in Davos, Switzerland. This year, the meeting was postponed due to the pandemic until May, when it will take place in Singapore. Next week, the forum is hosting a virtual meeting that includes addresses from leaders such as Xi Jinping of China and Narendra Modi of India.