Page 12 - 2020 Defence White Paper

Section

1 Global Security Environment

While the global spread of COVID-19 has emerged as a new threat to international
security as it causes political, economic, and social instability in many countries across
the world, security threats continue to arise locally due to traditional causes of conflict
such as territorial and religious disputes. Against this backdrop, extreme nationalism is
intensifying in the international community but at the same time efforts to cooperate on
jointly responding to various security threats are being strengthened.

1. COVID-19 and Increased Variability in the Security Environment

The COVID-19 outbreak, which began at the end of 2019 and has since spread
rapidly across the world, has caused an unprecedented complex security crisis
situation in the international community. In just nine months after the World Health
Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak as a pandemic in March 2020, more
1)
than 61 million cases have been confirmed and over 1.4 million people have died
worldwide, causing the worst level of casualties since World War II. COVID-19 has
paralyzed social systems including health care systems, and has brought about an
international economic crisis that includes a breakdown in the global supply chain,

contraction in economic activities, and mass unemployment. The pandemic has also
sparked social conflicts around the world, including racial hate crimes and protests
by the economically vulnerable against government quarantine measures. As the
crisis that started in the health care sector escalates into political, economic, and
social crises, it poses a grave security threat to the international community.
The intensifying strategic competition between the US and China, amid global
spread of COVID-19, adds instability and uncertainty to the international security
environment. The US is seeking new partnerships and a variety of cooperation
opportunities by further strengthening cooperation with its existing allies and
friendly nations while holding China’s expansion of influence in check through its
Indo-Pacific Strategy. China, on the other hand, is striving to protect its core interests
and expand its influence by pushing forward with its Belt and Road Initiative.
1)
State of great epidemic Also, in the initial response stages for COVID-19, members of the international
outbreaks around the
world. community showed a tendency to prioritize their own country, choosing to close

10 2020 Defense White Paper