A Refusal to Cooperate

According to research compiled by the Five Eyes (an intelligence alliance of western states including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States) has alleged that the Chinese government has intentionally concealed or destroyed evidence relating to the original outbreak of coronavirus. The report frames this allegation by showing how Beijing initially denied that the virus could be spread through humans, disappearing health care workers who openly contested this position. This consideration becomes even more weighty once taking into account that specific proof of human transmission as a possibility emerged in December but was only publicly acknowledged late in January. What's more, China prevented international organizations from visiting Wuhan and were uncooperative in sharing live samples to international scientists seeking a vaccine.

This pattern of being uncooperative with international relations is now playing out with the highest stakes the world has ever seen, based on a refusal to engage with international institutions. It's hard to decide if this is an issue of a chicken or the egg, but China's failure to engage with stabilizing international organizations likely has ties with a western refusal to create a path toward power sharing. This is really well exemplified through the tension between The World Bank and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). When countries have felt locked out of financing options because of the United State's domineering control over the purse strings, they've been decisive in pushing against cooperation. This standoffish relationship has historically manifested itself in trade negotiations, the Belt & Road Initiative, and the literal creation of a new global financier.

One perspective may even contend that it's the alienation of China by the West which has continued to keep doors for change closed, certainly unhelped by Donald Trump's tumultuous relationship with the foreign actor.

None of this is to discount the longstanding history of free speech suppression, willingness to tread on other smaller state actors, or the country's eagerness to declare a new world order controlled by themselves, but it is to suggest that a history of bad interactions certainly hasn't made globally conscious decisions any more appealing to this unresponsive actor.

Source: The Independent