East Asia Forum: U.S. multilateralism betrayal undermines efforts against COVID-19

People tour the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, Aug. 16, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank touted heir contribution to stabilizing the global economy, but the United States — the country that underpins multilateralism — has lost interest in the idea, according to the East Asia Forum Wednesday.

Although the World Bank pledged it would lend 160 billion U.S. dollars to help the developing countries weather through the crisis, it turns out to be all money the Bank would have paid anyway, it said.

"Another problem worths noting is that the World Bank's capital is down to 22 percent of its loan book and, for prudential reasons, it cannot fall below 20 percent."

Besides, President Donald Trump believes "the future does not belong to the globalists. The future belongs to patriots", which indicates U.S. influence in some institutions is too small to justify the cheques written by the U.S. to keep them going.

"The U.S. would rather keep the IMF dependent on resources that it has to borrow from rich countries, enhancing U.S. leverage and keeping the Fund on a short leash," according to the forum.

The forum also believes multilateralism since the Second World War has only ever been a set of institutions, including the IMF and the World Bank, underpinned by U.S. power in that they serve its interests.

A counter case in point is U.S. withdrawal from WHO out of the U.N. agency's "mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic."

But it's generally held that the move undermines the global effort to fight the pandemic. As the largest contributor to the WHO funding, the U.S. withdrawal would undoubtedly hurt the organization's capacity and expertise.

President Trump even talks about creating an alternative health institution to the WHO, which would also hurt global unity and morale.