As the United States repeatedly weighs in to block reasonable reforms and interfere with long-standing, consensus-based processes, China is on another track. It knows that reforms are needed and is working constructively to realize them.

The People’s Bank of China is pressing forward with a digital yuan, which leaves China’s digital currency plans significantly ahead of western nations’. While the U.S dollar has dominated global trade since WWII, the yuan, whether digital or analog, will have a leading role in challenging the hegemony of the dollar.

Just as China led the world in economic recovery in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008, it is playing a similar role today. Its post-COVID rebound is gathering momentum amid a developed world that remains on shaky ground. Unfortunately, this is a bitter pill for many to swallow – especially in the United States, where demonization of China has reached epic proportions.

Private businesses are taking on massive amounts of debt, kicking the can down the road for an extreme depression later on. What both China and America need is a program of unprecedented public investment.

In the midst of a global economic slump, China is looking to expand its domestic markets. Not only might this keep China’s economy competitive, but it might also shed China’s “factory of the world” moniker, emerging as the most sophisticated global consumer market.

By disrupting the world’s interconnected economic, social, and geopolitical spheres, the COVID-19 crisis has exposed just how fragile and inequitable the institutions that govern them really are. It has also highlighted how difficult it is to address systemic fragility and inequity amid escalating national-security threats.

The V-shapes economic recovery is likely to continue and make a positive contribution to the world. Even with all the negative talk of decoupling, investment from the U.S. is increasing substantially.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has changed some fundamental things in the world order. Post-pandemic global governance will likely feature significant fragmentation. And it could unfold in a variety of ways.

The disastrous failure of the Trump administration to contain COVID-19 will result in catastrophic 2nd quarter results. So, Trump is targeting China as the scapegoat while risking his re-election on domestic unrest, fatal geopolitics, and a global depression.

Whether the world economy recovers or declines in the coming year will depend upon a number of complex interlocking factors. Unlike SARS, the COVID-19 pandemic endangers the security of the real economy and increases worries.