NIAD 2020 – Will the COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerate or Hinder the Rise of Asia?
Pandemics have changed the course of history of mankind, so will COVID-19. The former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has said: “The world will never be the same after the coronavirus”.
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc to the world economy and severely disrupted the global supply chain. Many economists have opined that COVID-19 will accelerate de-globalization. Multinationals may reshore their production facilities from China, and make necessary supply chain adjustments to mitigate operational risks.
COVID-19 has also exacerbated the strained China-US relations arising from the trade war. While social-economic life in China has basically returned to normal, the US is still muddled in the pandemic. Blaming and bashing China for the spread of the coronavirus has become the presidential election strategy for both the Republicans and Democrats. Intensified China-US rivalry will invariably influence the geopolitics of Asia.
COVID-19 has not only affected business operations, but also changed people’s lifestyles and the work environment. The application of AI, the Internet and big data in combating the spread of the virus will undoubtedly accelerate the digital transformation of Asia.
Before the outbreak of COVID-19, political pundits have already predicted that the world was on the cusp of the Asian Century. Will the COVID-19 pandemic, which has devastated many advanced economies, accelerate or hinder the rise of Asia?
A panel of 15 prominent scholars and experts from China, the US, Russia, India, the UK, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia took part in the New Inclusive Asia Dialogue (NIAD) 2020 to deliberate and share their insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Asia – whether it would accelerate or hinder the rise of Asia .
NIAD 2020 was co-organised by the Centre For New Inclusive Asia, Malaysia, Institute of International Studies, Nanjing University, China, and Center for Regional Security Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
