The China´s Paradox
The COVID-19 global crisis has placed China in the center of world´s attention. A number of accusations against Beijing hold that the Chinese Communist regime hide or delayed information of the facts related to the pandemic.The rise of China provoked some debates as to whether the 21st Century would belong to her. Western powers as Spain, Portugal, France, the British Empire and the United States of America led the world in the last five hundred years. Would China become the World´s leader in this next century? In today’s world, the United States remains the only nation on earth able to practice the three spheres of power: military authority, economic capacity and soft power. However, the exercise of that power is conditioned by the present historical circumstances. It is highly probable that the nation that will develop the vaccine against COVID-19 will acquire international prestige and soft power comparable to the Man on the Moon achievement. That discovery will have geopolitical consequences. Since the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century, China blames the West for her sense of failure. At the same time, China charges the United States with striving to prevent her claimed own harmonious and peaceful development. There might be a final paradox. Asia might be the world´s first region to recover from the severe recession that will affect the whole globe. The COVID-19 drama will represent the fateful irony of having started and ended in the same place.

