After the Pandemic - Confronting a New Geo-Strategic Environment in the Post-COVID-19 Era

In the case of the INF Treaty, the United States withdrew from the treaty, citing bpth Russian violation of its terms as well as a desire to develop systems to counter Chinese missile capabilities, the latter not being a party to the treaty (Sanger and Wong 2019). [...] Examples include establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (a counterweight to the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank) and such groups as the Boao Forum for Asia and the Beijing Xiangshan Forum (counterweights to the Davos Forum and the Shangri-La Dialogue, respectively), as well as its increasingly dominant role in the International Civil Aviation Organization, the World Health. [...] In addition, while the spread of the virus had abated in Europe for much of the summer before rising once again in the fall, the US has remained a consistent global hotspot since the spring – one that, due to its haphazard and piecemeal response, continues to surge. [...] But it does mean the scale of the pandemic and its economic effects – especially in the months and years ahead – will increase the possibility of state failure in the international system. [...] With the virus having ravaged through Europe and now the United States, China has attempted to position itself as the global leader in the fight against COVID-19 – as opposed to the country whose initial coverups had led to the pandemic in the first place (Rebello et al.