Opinion | Coronavirus is not an excuse to bury globalisation, but a chance to make it better

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed problems with globalisation, but it should not be an excuse to bury globalisation, says economist Jack Gao

The outbreak should serve as an awakening to a world economy that has put priority on economic integration over public health, environment and climate concerns

Reading Time:3 minutes

Global landmarks like Times Square in New York have been emptied by the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:00am, 28 Mar 2020Updated: 6:46am, 28 Mar 2020

The global coronavirus pandemic is turning into the most severe challenge for humanity since World War II, as the Covid-19 disease has infected more than a half million people across the world, closed national borders and frozen many economic activities.

Many are saying that the world will never be the same again. But it would be unwise to use the crisis as a reason to bury globalisation once and for all. The outbreak has exposed problems with globalisation, but we do not have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

On the contrary, the coronavirus offers a chance to forge a better version of globalisation.

To begin with, a more divided world in no way guarantees public health crises will no longer occur. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic claimed 100 million lives and the Black Death killed even more people, both when the world was fragmented.

Periodic outbreaks of infectious diseases have plagued humanity throughout history, and, more than anything, it was progress in science and healthcare that accounted for the gradual decline in fatalities and damages.

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