Before COVID-19 vaccines were developed and distributed, China’s strict approach to controlling the virus resulted in fewer deaths and a much lower death rate per million people than in many other countries. But while these successes were impressive in late 2020 and early 2021, effective vaccines and treatments have become readily available since then, leading the World Health Organization to declare that the end of the pandemic is in sight.

Last October’s G20 Leaders’ Summit – held in Rome, and hosted by then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi – produced a declaration brimming with promises to “address today’s most pressing global challenges” and “converge upon common efforts to recover better from the COVID-19 crisis and enable sustainable and inclusive growth” across the world. What a difference a year makes.

It’s a good time to reflect on lessons learned in the pandemic era and look beyond it. If we let things continue as they are, widening income disparities will inevitably promote political divergence, social polarization and vulnerability.

China has chosen to accept some short-term pain for the promise of long-term growth and stability. Some people may grumble, but the vast majority support the effort to save lives, a core value that’s deeply embedded in the country’s ethical tradition.

Geopolitical risk, sanctions, and covid in China are redefining how we think about the future of global supply chains. Nations must start considering how to better secure their supply chains through regional trade partnerships, reshoring essential manufacturing capabilities, and sourcing goods from multiple nations and regions.

The pandemic continues to cause disruption in society across the world, and despite the seemingly universal desire to end the precautions, China and the U.S. have done little in setting an example for the world to follow.

The predictable downward revision cycle for the global economic outlook has officially begun. That’s the message from the semi-annual World Economic Outlook just released by the International Monetary Fund, which reinforces earlier revisions from several prominent private forecasting teams.

The current lockdowns in China have the potential for substantial disruptions of supply chains and business on a global scale.

The world is largely off track in terms of achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. But China’s Global Development Initiative and Belt and Road Initiative can work together for a better future.

In early March, Premier Li Keqiang announced that China is targeting GDP growth of “about 5.5%” this year. That would be ambitious even without Russia’s war against Ukraine and the attendant increases in global energy and food prices. Back in January, for example, the International Monetary Fund forecast that the Chinese economy would grow by only 4.8% in 2022. And in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic, GDP increased by just under 6%.