【Beijing Review】Priority areas for cooperation emerge from security meeting
March 10 , 2021
By Mabel Lu MIAO, secretary-general of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG)
Three areas have emerged as priorities for international cooperation from the special edition of the Munich Security Conference held virtually on Feb. 19, where participants discussed how to rebuild and renew the transatlantic alliance in the face of global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
Dr. Miao Lu posted the first question to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during the conference.
COVID-19 cooperation
With over 2.54 million deaths and more than 114 million infections globally by March 3, according to Johns Hopkins University, promoting global cooperation to control the pandemic was of utmost urgency.
So far, vaccination seems to be the most powerful weapon against the disease. But some low- and middle-income countries and population still do not have access to vaccines. The global production capacity, which is below the global demand, and the stringent storage and transportation requirements of the vaccines produced in the West have added to the challenges to widespread vaccination.
UN Secretary General António Guterres outlined four imperatives at the virtual conference, including coming up with a global vaccination plan. “Vaccines must be available and affordable for everyone everywhere. Vaccine equity is crucial for saving lives and saving economies. We need at least doubling of global manufacturing capacity through sharing of licenses and technology transfers,” he said, expressing the belief that the Group of 20 was well placed to establish an emergency task force to prepare such a global vaccination plan.
Guterres called for the participation of all countries, companies and international organizations and financial institutions that have the required power, scientific expertise and production and financial capacities.
China is already cooperating with other countries to make its domestically developed vaccines available. It has provided vaccine assistance to 53 countries, while Chinese enterprises have exported or are exporting vaccines to 27 countries.
In addition, the government has announced it will provide 10 million doses to COVAX, the global alliance for equitable distribution of vaccines, mainly for other developing countries.
As the world’s three largest economies, the U.S., China and the EU should convene a vaccine summit and establish a trilateral dialogue and coordination mechanism to advance cooperation in vaccine research, production and distribution under the coordination of the World Health Organization. All efforts should be made to prevent vaccine nationalism.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban receives a coronavirus vaccine shot developed by China’s Sinopharm in Budapest on February 28. Hungary is the first EU member to approve vaccines developed by Chinese companies (XINHUA)
Climate change
Climate change followed by global warming and other fallouts is another major challenge threatening humanity.
Climate change, unless managed, will not only kill five times as many people per year by the end of the century as the pandemic is today but also cause massive instability, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said at the meeting.
The Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. In accordance with this goal, many countries have formulated detailed carbon emission reduction targets and measures.
China, a global leader in renewable energy production, has pledged to peak emissions before 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. On Feb. 1, China launched the world’s largest carbon trading market to help meet its carbon neutrality goal.
In order to accelerate emission reduction and meet the needs of developing countries, a global climate summit including the Group of Seven countries and China, Russia and India should be convened.
This “G10,” including the biggest carbon emitters in the world, will facilitate international multilateral climate cooperation. The expansion will also increase the representation of the G7 from 10 percent of the world’s population to 47 percent.
Besides, it would bring together representatives of both developed and developing countries, building a bridge of communication and cooperation between countries at different development levels.
Protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development is a shared global responsibility. Dealing with climate change will also open new development opportunities, such as creating new jobs, alleviating demographic pressures, promoting cross-border new energy cooperation, and even promoting friendly exchanges between countries.
China-US cooperation
U.S. President Joe Biden signaled that the U.S. is returning to multilateralism. But whether the EU will accept the hand Biden is extending depends on how Germany and France define their future cooperation and coordination. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear in her speech at the meeting that Germany will follow its own stand on international issues.
However, the U.S. return to multilateralism can help to ease tensions between it and China.
Under Biden’s administration, there are at least four areas where China and the U.S. can start dialogue: climate change, COVID-19 control, World Trade Organization reform, and entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the trade agreement among 11 countries.
The U.S. had pulled out of the original agreement from which the CPTPP evolved, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, under Donald Trump. Both China and the U.S. should explore joining the CPTPP.
The two countries should also restart negotiations on their bilateral investment treaty (BIT), which were launched in 2008 but were later suspended.
According to the American Chamber of Commerce in China, a China-U.S. BIT would help to reduce the United States’ trade deficit. It would also catalyze global post-COVID-19 economic recovery, like the Sino-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the free trade agreement between 15 Asia-Pacific economies.
