The casualty figures show no sign of stopping anytime soon. With the number of COVID-19 infected and deceased going up by the day, governments across Europe and North America are scrambling to put measures in place. At the same time, talks of how the world will look like after the containment of the virus are slowly starting to emerge. New York Times columnist Thomas Freidman writes that the world will now have a new historical divide, BC—before corona and AC—after corona—while acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harrari feels that in the post COVID world, people might have to forgo their privacy for the sake of their health. Many others have their own arguments.

When the news emerged that a Chinese doctor, who had warned his colleagues about an emerging virus, was reprimanded by the Chinese authorities, the West went into a tizzy. The media was quick to criticize China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and how its authoritarian government’s desperate attempt to conceal it had led to the outbreak to reach unprecedented level. Many commented that the steps China was taking, including locking down of an entire city of 11 million and forcing million others to stay indoors, was extreme and ‘draconian’.

What makes Oli’s China visit particularly important is evolving geo-political scenario following rapproachment between Xi Jingping and Narendra Modi

Four of the eight member states of SAARC signed the BRI framework when they had ‘pro-India’ governments.