COVID-19 and China’s Quest for Global Hegemony

Angela Ajodo-Adebanjoko
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Angela Ajodo-Adebanjoko: Federal University Lafia

Chapter Chapter 12 in Socioeconomic Dynamics of the COVID-19 Crisis, 2022, pp 253-268 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract COVID-19, a new strain of the coronavirus, is currently a public health emergency rocking the globe. From its discovery in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 to its declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020, COVID-19 has assumed centre stage of all national and international discourses in recent times. This is because of the negative impact of the disease on all spectra of the human life: social, cultural, economic and political. While its discovery has been traced to Wuhan, the origin of the disease remains unclear and unknown as there are mixed messages or accusations and counter-accusations from China and the United States. While China claims that the virus originated naturally from the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan, the United States and a host of other countries are sceptical believing it to be man-made and originating from a laboratory in Wuhan. China’s claims have been disputed because there are no bat markets in Wuhan amidst allegations that China has banned all forms of investigation into the origin of the virus. This latter allegation has raised the question of the possibility of China having released the virus as a biological weapon aimed at weakening other economies, particularly that of the United States, and achieving its imperial ambition of becoming a global hegemon. This chapter investigated the role of China in the spread of the coronavirus disease and the rationale behind this. The research was conducted using secondary sources obtained from news organisations and the internet among others. While there are still ongoing investigations to find out if China deployed the coronavirus as a bioweapon in its quest for global hegemony, the country’s reluctance to share critical information or to provide timely and sufficiently detailed information about the potential public health emergencies of the virus with the WHO is an internationally wrongful act and a breach of international obligations which states could challenge at the International Court of Justice.

Keywords: Coronavirus; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; The international system; International law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-89996-7_12

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