Among its many other effects, the COVID-19 crisis has intensified the pre-existing geopolitical rivalry between China and the United States (US). This tension has led many to warn of the “Thucydides trap,” a term coined by Harvard’s Graham T Allison to refer to the heightened risk of conflict when an emerging power threatens to displace an established one.
The COVID-19 pandemic has sent the world into perilous, uncharted territory from which no country will emerge unscathed. Over half of the global population is under some form of lockdown. All economies, rich and poor, are falling into recession and can limit the fallout only by working together.China – the pandemic’s first epicentre – offers insight into the need to work together.
Coronavirus deaths have surged past 150,000 worldwide with nearly a quarter of them in the United States (US), where new rallies against lockdown orders are being held after President Donald Trump lent his support to the protesters.Evidence is mounting that social distancing successfully slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity – 4.5 billion people – were confined to their homes.Governments around the world are now grappling with when and how to ease lockdowns that have crippled t
The deadly coronavirus epidemic could put an already fragile global economic recovery at risk, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Sunday, as G20 financial chiefs voiced "real concern" over its economic ripple effects.Global growth was poised for a modest rebound to 3.3 percent this year, up from 2.9 percent last year, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said after a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Riyadh.But the projected recovery was &quo
Trade conflict between the world's two largest economic powers already is inflicting collateral damage and threatens to do yet more harm to the global economy, the World Bank warned Tuesday.And the global slowdown is beginning as government and corporate debt rise, especially among the poorest countries, while mounting interest rates increase borrowing costs, the bank said in its semi-annual Global Economic Prospects report.The report was markedly more pessimistic than a year ago – when
