The Coronavirus (2019-nCoV, or COVID-19) outbreak started in the central Hubei province in China. The spread of the disease across China, and now around the globe, is a multi-layered issue that affects both politics and science. On one level, it is a public health crisis in an area where developing China is particularly vulnerable. On another, it sheds light on the issue of governance under Xi Jinping and the strengths and weaknesses of his highly centralised style of rule in contemporary China. Finally, it also speaks to the current atmosphere in geopolitics, where the boundary between China and the world around it, and particularly with the USA, is growing deeper. This article will look at each of these issues in turn. The spread and global impact of the virus has proved to be a fast-moving phenomenon. It is likely to make an impact that will last not just for years, but decades. There is every possibility that globalisation will be recast and reformed, as a result. This is a very initial attempt to understand some of the factors that might go into this, as they can be seen at the time of writing (April 2020).
Politics and Science_ The Case of China and the Coronavirus