South China Sea Becomes Flashpoint Despite War On Covid Virus

While the people all over the world are fighting what appears to be a losing battle against an invisible virus which keeps transforming itself into more virulent forms to stay ahead of any anti-virus medication or vaccines, big powers show no intention of setting aside their power games and pay their total attention on the war against the virus.

- Ameen Izzadeen

Common sense dictates that a pandemic is no time to settle old or new scores between nations. Instead, a pandemic offers an opportunity to shelve hostilities and forge unity, at least temporarily, to fight the virus through a well-coordinated global vaccination programme. But it is not to be. The reality is far from the ideal situation where nations, rich and poor, will pool their resources for each nation to take from the pool what it needs to cope with the health emergency, while rich nations in their largesse will write off the poor nation’s debts. The need of the hour is not to be a Shakespearian usurer but to practise altruism and charity to the fullest.

Although the altruism rich nations displayed in recent weeks and months by sharing their excess anti-covid vaccines is commendable, it falls short of what the ideal situation should be.

The reality is even in the vaccine philanthropy, there is an element of politics. Maybe, it is a way of demonstrating the soft power. Maybe, there is an attempt to win new allies or woo back lost allies, because in international politics, a nation’s power is not only gauged by its wealth, military might and the size of the population, but also by its alliance-making capabilities. The more allies a big power has, the more power it wields in international politics.

This power equation assumes greater significance in the context of the power imbalance arising from China’s gallop to be the front runner, replacing the United States in the global power race.