China has used Covid-19 to kill off democracy, annual Democracy Index finds

China has used Covid-19 to its advantage to undermine democracy in Western countries, leaving them with one option.

China has used Covid-19 to fan flames of dissent in Western democracies and further its ambition for global dominance, according to a new report.

The respected Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2021 Democracy Index found the pandemic had prompted an unprecedented withdrawal of civil liberties among developed nations.

Deep divisions had emerged between those who back precaution — government-led lockdowns, vaccination proofs for movement and travel restrictions — and those who cry interference and loss of freedom.

The annual report, released on Thursday, said that dissent had been aided by China’s overt or covert propaganda machine.

Anti-lockdown and anti-vax protesters in Melbourne. Picture: Jason Edwards

It concluded the real challenge for the West was not to stop China from becoming a dominant global power but to learn to “manage” the process, while preserving democracy and staving off war.

“China’s rulers have become more confident about promulgating the alleged superiority of their system over that of the West and the Covid-19 pandemic has accentuated this trend,” the report said.

“Blithely ignoring the origins of the pandemic in Wuhan in Hubei province, and the failure of their authorities to warn the world of the unfolding disaster, China’s leaders cite the pandemic as proof that their political system is superior to the liberal democratic model. While continuing to lock down millions of citizens in pursuit of a zero-Covid policy into the third year of the pandemic, Chinese politicians accused Western governments of having mismanaged the public health emergency at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.”

China’s economy has grown at triple the rate of the US economy since 1990 but in the last year the pandemic further pushed it to an economic superpower while it actively promoted the demise of other nations.

Anti-lockdown and anti-vax protesters in Vienna, Austria. Picture: Getty Images

EIU index report author Joan Hoey said Covid-19 should prompt a rethink in the West.

“With the Western democratic capitalist model facing an increasing challenge from China, the real challenge for the West may not be to figure out how to prevent China from one day becoming the dominant global power, but to manage that process in such a way as to avoid war and preserve democracy and the best of the Western enlightenment legacy,” she said.

Democracy, she said, had not been “in robust health” for sometime.

The report, aimed at providing deep analysis of economic and political trends, concludes democracy has eroded significantly since 2020, and now represented less than half the world, 45.7 per cent, deemed to be living under the political system. Chile and Spain were flagged as notable “flawed democracies”.

Australia sat unchanged from last year in ninth position for “full democracy” ahead of Switzerland and after New Zealand which sat at number 2 with Norway topping the list.