The geopolitical battle for the COVID-19 narrative

The geopolitical battle for the COVID-19 narrative

As they have been isolating their populations to keep the coronavirus contained, some powerful governments are simultaneously waging a worldwide war of perceptions – laying out how the pandemic happened, where the responsibilities lie and which country should lead the fight against it.

China is out to shift the narrative from its initially slow response – the way its censors kept a lid on the story – to the collective effort since then to bring down the infection rate. Beijing has also borrowed a page from Moscow’s playbook – using mainstream and social media platforms to spread conspiracy theories and to muddle perceptions. In Washington, DC, a campaign to brand COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” is being led by President Donald Trump himself.

This story has grown into a debate about competing ideologies – a global one, played out through the news media – of what the world will look like once the pandemic is over – and which political system, which superpower – will be best placed to lead.