An interview with American historian Edward Luttwak published in the Sankei Shimbun clearly reveals the truths exposed by the novel coronavirus crisis: the dysfunction of the EU, China’s nature as a country of lies, the limits of international organizations such as the WHO, and the return of an era in which nation-states bear responsibility for protecting their own people. This essay examines the reality that the world has already changed its view of China, while Japanese media such as the Asahi Shimbun and NHK remain in a “naked king” state.

May 9, 2020

The only ones continuing in the state of “the naked king” are the Japanese media, led by the Asahi Shimbun, NHK, and others.

The Sankei Shimbun is now the most decent newspaper not only in Japan, but in the world.
Those who subscribe to it must have read this morning’s Sankei Shimbun and deeply realized the correctness of my evaluation.
First, I will introduce an article that Arima of NHK Watch 9 and Ian Bremmer must read with their eyes wide open.
It is an interview with a true adult that makes one painfully aware of just how small those two men are.
At the same time, it also vividly shows that their level is beyond toleration, and that there is a strong possibility that they are under Chinese influence.
This is genuine reporting that makes the Japanese people feel keenly that those two men and the people who control NHK’s news department are not only kindergarten children waving around self-righteous hypocrisy, but are undoubtedly under Chinese operations.
The emphases within the text, apart from the headline, are mine.
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The Global Era Is Over.
American historian Edward Luttwak.

The novel coronavirus crisis has been described as the greatest crisis since the Second World War.
Where is the world heading?
Edward Luttwak, an American historian known as a world authority on strategic studies, explained the “truths of the world” exposed by the crisis and predicted a return to an era in which the
“responsibility of the nation-state”
will increase.

The EU loses sight of its role.

What geopolitical impact has the novel coronavirus had on the world?

“The first is a rupture in the political flow in Europe.
The European Union, the EU, was established to prevent wars among European countries, but it failed to respond to the novel coronavirus, the first war-level contingency it had faced.
There was no shared medical information, no common medical strategy, and not much mutual assistance among member states.”
“There was also no coordinated EU foreign policy.
For example, Italy gladly accepted support from China.
On the other hand, other European countries such as Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands rejected Chinese support.
The EU, which aimed at integration, has lost sight of its role.
From now on, many member states should quietly leave, following the United Kingdom.”
“U.S.-China relations are consistent in the sense that they will continue to deteriorate.
Just a little over ten years ago, the United States was dominated by pro-China appeasers.
The trend is changing, but the novel coronavirus will accelerate the change in people’s consciousness toward China.
That is because everyone knows that the virus came from China and that the Chinese authorities mishandled the response.”

The only ones continuing in the state of “the naked king” are the Japanese media, led by the Asahi Shimbun, NHK, and others.

What will happen to the “great-power competition” between the United States and China?

“It will work to the advantage of the Trump administration.
This is a contest between the free-democratic political system of the United States and the Communist Party dictatorship that governs China.
But China has only two allies, Pakistan and Iran.
Italy, too, has been conquered by China.
Historically, Italy is famous for joining the wrong side and then changing its attitude afterward.”
“On the other hand, other countries are turning their backs on China and siding with the United States.
A good example is British Foreign Secretary Raab saying on April 16 that
‘relations with China should be reviewed comprehensively.’
Chinese President Xi Jinping claims that dictatorship is suited to handling all situations, including viruses, and thereby justifies authoritarian methods.
Furthermore, he indicates that he is ready to become a leader who guides the world, but he is being rejected in every part of the world.”

The state has the responsibility to protect its people.

What will happen to the role of international organizations and multilateral frameworks?

“The novel coronavirus is a ‘virus that exposes the truth.’
It exposed the fact that the EU does not function, and it exposed the disorder of Italy, which produced many deaths.
It also brought into broad daylight the fact that China is a country of lies.
Regarding Japan, it made people realize that the idea
‘Japan is safe because it is different from China’
was mistaken.”
“What is happening in response to the novel coronavirus crisis is ‘de-globalization’ as a backlash against globalization.
Globalization has moved in tandem with the rise of international organizations.
Now that the dysfunction of the EU and the World Health Organization, WHO, has become clear, the world will retreat from globalization and multilateral frameworks, and return in the direction of nation-states responsibly protecting their own people.”

Authoritarian systems are also rising in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

“The rise of new dictatorships itself is a product of the globalization that people praise.
The intellectual class claimed that globalization was something like ‘world democracy,’ but in reality it promoted the movement of many countries toward dictatorship, such as Russia, which transformed from a democratic system into Putin’s dictatorship, and China, which moved from collective leadership to the Xi system.”
“The reason globalization has a strong affinity with dictatorship is also that international organizations are undemocratic.
The EU is something that transfers the authority of elected national governments to the European Commission.
The democratic systems of European countries weakened because the power of each country was transferred to an undemocratic system.
Since globalization contributed nothing to democracy, democracy will not be damaged by de-globalization.”

Interviewer: Yoshinari Kurose, Washington.

The pandemic, the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus, is likely to become an opportunity to reexamine the way politics, economics, and society should be in the world.
We ask experts in various fields, both in Japan and abroad, to interpret its impact.