First of all, the new crown epidemic will accelerate the adjustment of the international balance of power. Just as the impact of the two world wars on various countries and regions was uneven, causing major changes in the balance of international power after the war, the impact of the new coronavirus epidemic on various regions and countries in the world has also been uneven, and it is bound to stimulate international power. There is a new twist in the comparison. Western countries such as the United States and Europe have been hardest hit this time, with more than 2.8 million confirmed cases, accounting for 2/3 of the world's confirmed cases; more than 230,000 fatal cases, accounting for 3/4 of the world's total disease-related deaths. Not only that, China and other East Asian countries that were first hit by the COVID-19 epidemic quickly curbed the spread of the epidemic, and quickly shifted to "life epidemic prevention" after the epidemic, and their economies are recovering; while the epidemic in Western countries such as the United States and Europe is still spreading, especially the United States has not yet entered the epidemic "Platform period". It can be deduced from this that after the epidemic, the share of Western countries such as the United States and Europe in the global economy and trade will further decline, while the share of East Asian countries such as China will further increase; the balance of comprehensive strength between China and the United States will especially accelerate in favor of As China slips, the timetable for China's exchange rate-denominated GDP to exceed that of the United States may also be advanced as a result.
Secondly, from the political, cultural and institutional levels, the raging COVID-19 epidemic has severely damaged the so-called "theory of the superiority of Western democracy" and "theory of the superiority of Western civilization" that the United States and Europe have regarded as "magic weapons." Since the end of the Second World War, especially since the end of the Cold War, the United States and Europe have been highly publicizing their political systems based on "separation of powers," "checks and balances of power," and "one person, one vote" as well as their "absolute individualism." "Absolute freedom" is the core culture, civilization, etc., and attempts to force non-Western countries to copy and copy it. However, in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, East Asian countries such as China, which were the first to become the epicenter of the epidemic, took advantage of the government’s strong leadership, mobilization, and high efficiency institutional advantages to adopt efficient anti-epidemic measures. However, East Asian countries with a collectivistic cultural tradition People in various countries are also highly conscious, self-disciplined, and proactively cooperate in fighting the epidemic, demonstrating their institutional and cultural advantages. Although Western countries such as the United States and Europe have stronger economic strength and better medical technology and facilities, in the face of the COVID-19 epidemic, their governments have either failed to act, acted indiscriminately, or have been unable to act due to various institutional constraints arising from power checks and balances. , its people are unwilling to cooperate with the government in fighting the epidemic on the grounds of adhering to its so-called "absolute human rights", "absolute freedom" and "absolute individualism". As a result, the United States and Europe wasted several weeks of precious opportunities gained by China and other East Asian countries in taking the lead in fighting the epidemic, and gradually became the hardest hit area by the global COVID-19 epidemic. The failure of Western countries such as the United States and Europe to respond to the COVID-19 epidemic not only caused the balance of international power to shift toward China and other East Asian countries, but also exposed the "emperor's new clothes" that the West has long boasted about, including its institutional, cultural and civilizational advantages. This latter point in particular will have a profound impact on world politics.