Drawing on a Sankei Shimbun column by Paris bureau chief Mina Mitsui, this article examines how the coronavirus crisis exposed Europe’s dependence on China, mask shortages, the return of domestic production, deglobalization, and the rapid shift toward state-led economic policy.

June 9, 2020
According to a recent opinion poll, 65 percent of people answered, “Stop globalization.”
Those who said, “Even if product prices rise, we should produce domestically,” reached 89 percent.
The following is from a regular column by Mina Mitsui, the Sankei Shimbun’s Paris bureau chief, published in today’s Sankei Shimbun under the title, “Europe Rapidly Moves Toward ‘State Leadership.’”
She too is a genuine reporter who is raising the market value of the Sankei Shimbun, which is now the most decent newspaper.
Emphasis in the text, other than the headline, is mine.
Because of the novel coronavirus, France’s stay-at-home order lasted about two months.
Except for shopping for food, people spent their days confined at home.
The writer herself was considerably depressed, almost on the verge of “corona depression.”
What helped her was a fish shop in the neighborhood.
Every morning, the shop displayed flounder and oysters that had become unsellable because restaurants were closed.
The shop’s business must have been difficult, but the madam smiled cheerfully and said, “As long as fish arrive from the sea of Brittany, we will keep the shop open.”
Her spirit of wanting to support fishermen in hardship was conveyed, and the line of customers grew longer and longer.
When everyone has such experiences, even the values of the nation change completely.
President Macron’s usual belief was to “reform France and make it stronger,” yet far from international competitiveness, when imports stopped, even necessities became difficult to obtain.
Everyone was stunned, asking, “What has happened to this country?”
The symbol of this was the “mask turmoil.”
After the outbreak of the new influenza ten years ago, 1.7 billion masks were supposed to have been stockpiled by the state, yet before anyone knew it, they had disappeared.
According to the government’s explanation, it seems to have thought casually, “We can just import them from Asia.”
Domestic manufacturing capacity amounted to only 10 percent of demand.
At a hospital he visited, President Macron was pressed by doctors and nurses, who said, “We do not have nearly enough equipment or personnel.”
To increase mask production, even luxury fashion brands were mobilized.
Even so, masks did not reach the whole population, and a “handmade mask” movement spread nationwide.
The argument, “Bring industry back to France,” now fills the entire country.
According to a recent opinion poll, 65 percent of people answered, “Stop globalization.”
Those who said, “Even if product prices rise, we should produce domestically,” reached 89 percent.
The psychologist Julia Dohunes says, “Voices have grown stronger demanding that life-sustaining medical care and domestic industry be valued. It is the idea that economic efficiency comes second.”
Public opinion has also changed in Germany.
Although exports are the lifeline of the economy, 58 percent of people answered that “globalization becomes a risk.”
Three years earlier, the opinion that “globalization becomes an opportunity” accounted for 64 percent.
Here too, a strong sense of vigilance is spreading: “We must not depend on China for industrial supply chains.”
Before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the European economy was buried beneath the two powers of the United States and China.
In order to respond to globalization, how to slim down “big government” had been the challenge for the European Union as a whole.
Now, however, “state leadership” is rapidly advancing.
The German government, whose banner had been fiscal balance, has cast aside its austerity line.
The total amount of economic measures so far is approximately 1.3 trillion euros, about 156 trillion yen.
That corresponds to almost 30 percent of last year’s gross domestic product, namely GDP.
In France, more than 12 million people are covered by furlough benefits due to the city lockdown.
This means that the state is paying the majority of wages for 60 percent of private-sector employees.
The Macron administration pledges, “We will absolutely not allow mass unemployment like that in the United States.”
In Paris, even after people became able to go out freely, many continued shopping at nearby stores.
Attachment to local production for local consumption also strengthened.
The madam’s fish shop is now a popular shop in the neighborhood.
On weekends, it is bustling with people.
A return to “big government” will expand national debt and will certainly delay economic reform.
But now, no one is complaining about that.