The Directions of Chinese Diplomacy in the Pandemic Context

ABSTRACT

China's diplomacy has been marked by drastic changes since 2020, following the emergence of the virus known as SARS-CoV-2. The rapid spread of this virus both within China and beyond its borders, and subsequently globally, has led to a situation of crisis that has never been seen before in China, a situation that the Chinese leadership has had to mobilize and act upon, both internally, as most provinces in China have been affected, and externally, where the situation has taken on a greater scale than in the country that first reported the first coronavirus case. China is stepping in and assuming its role as a major power, taking swift action and implementing a series of drastic measures aimed at isolating the virus and combating the pandemic. China's global involvement, particularly in the countries most affected by the coronavirus crisis, has been viewed diplomatically not only with gratitude, as in the case of Italy, but also with suspicion and criticism of its political involvement in the humanitarian aid process. The present article proposes an analysis of both the Western and Chinese perspectives on China's handling of the SARS-CoV-2 crisis and at the same time traces the direction of diplomatic relations between China and the major world powers, i.e. political alliances once the pandemic is over.