The UN Secretary-General recently told the leaders of the world’s richest nations that
every country on Earth is in a fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, but they are not winning
it. The recent pandemic has shown us that all
the countries are essentially having to go it alone.
Huge organizations like the EU, the WHO or the UN Security Coucil have been unable to
come together to tackle the crisis. The pandemic is global, but the actions we're
seeing are almost strictly down national lines. So the big question: Can countries come together
to overcome this unseen killer? Today we have joining us Dr. Ramon Pacheco
Pardo, a Reader of International Relations at King's College London, Dr. Joseph Bosco
former China country director in the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense,... and
Dr. Mark Shanahan, Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Reading in the
UK. Dr. Pacheco Pardo: Many Europeans have called
for the issuance of joint European debt to fight the pandemic. But this has been met
with resistance from Germany and the Netherlands. How likely are the bitter feelings of 2008
to reemerge at
this time? Dr. Bosco: Across
the Atlantic, the Trump
administration asked 3M to stop exporting the masks to Canada and Latin America, which
angered those nations. At the same time, officials in Berlin criticized the United States on
Friday accusing it of diverting 200,000 masks from China. Meanwhile, China and Russia are
giving away masks to European countries. What do you make of this? Are some countries
taking advantage of geopolitical cracks to expand their sphere of influence? What is
the motivation for their actions? Dr. Shanahan: UN Security Council members,
in the past, came together to voice their resolve against threats to global security
like al the 9/11 attacks to the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Why haven't we seen
that kind of cooperation this time around? Dr. Bosco: We've seen squabbling between the
United States and China although over the past few days, they but they seem to have
called a truce. Will this last and how can the US and China come together to fight this
virus? Dr. Shahanan: G20 leaders said in late March
that they would do whatever it takes and called for global cooperation to fight the COVID-19
pandemic and its impact on public health and
the economy. But the commitments haven't been translated into concrete actions. What kind
of measures do you hope to see? Dr. Pacheco Pardo: After the Second World
War, we had the Marshall Plan to rebuild European economies. What kind of leadership do we need
this time around? Well that's
all
we have
time for today.
It's been an interesting discussion. Thank you for joining us Dr. Ramon Pacheco Pardo
in London, Dr. Joseph Bosco in Washington D.C. and Dr. Mark Shanahan in Reading.