The gradual importance of the People's Republic of China in the international arena, from the Deng Xiaoping era until now, has placed the Asian country at the forefront of the scene, until now led by European countries and the United States. China has gone from being a regional power to becoming a world power.

However, in spite of the importance of the People's Republic of China at the economic, diplomatic and productive level, it has not been a country, to date, that has lavished itself excessively on governmental travels abroad, something that has been performed by its peers such as Japan, South Korea or Singapore, among others.

However, the appearance of the COVID-19, or SARS-CoV-2, virus, precisely in China, as well as the enormous impact of the pandemic on almost the entire world, has accelerated certain changes in geopolitics that were timidly underway. The People’s Republic of China, in its management of the COVID-19 within and outside its borders, has conveyed to the world an image of leadership, solidarity and logistics that has displaced, at least temporarily, those actors who used to play such a role in situations of this kind . China's rapid reaction - in a way favoured by its system - and the display of it through the media, have given Xi Jinping's executive an ideal showcase against its main international competitors.

China's leadership role in the COVID-19 crisis does not imply, however, the assurance for the Asian country to become the undisputed bastion of geopolitics from then on. Experts in the field assure that post-COVID-19 world will be a non-polarized scenario where countries and territories have to foster mutual cooperation; a world oriented towards global governance and effective multilateralism . It is true that both China and South Korea, Taiwan or Singapore are in a privileged position with respect to the pandemic and its consequences, given that they are in full health and economic recovery, with a relative return to normality in most urban centres and socio-economic activities.

Globalization, which began in the mid-1980s, has gone through three distinct phases: a first military phase, a second phase of relaxation and a third phase, the current economic phase . It makes good sense to imagine that, after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Globalization will move into a fourth phase of cooperation and/or "reconstruction". It is clear that, in this scenario, countries such as China or South Korea - to a lesser extent - will play an important role, even more so than they have done so far.

The rapid intervention of the Chinese and South Korean authorities has made it possible, to a certain extent, to safeguard the financial stability of their respective countries through support for the interbank markets and financial support for the companies concerned. These actions have led to a relative return to normality in both countries: most companies have reopened their doors, local employees are back in their jobs and governmental activity has resumed at the local level.

The recovery, or practical containment, of the virus in Asian countries, led by China and South Korea, has not resulted in a full economic recovery in these countries at this time. Accordingly, China’s GDP has fallen by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although forecasts suggest a contained recovery.
This probable scenario, where Asian countries have recovered or have not suffered a great impact from COVID-19, leads us to the proposal of a possible transfer of the geopolitical focus to the area, with China at the head of it. That is, if the expectations of international policy experts were met, countries such as China or South Korea would travel more abroad, as well as receive a greater number of governmental and institutional representatives than they did before COVID-19.

Although the current tendency is towards a less polarized world, this fourth phase of Globalization would start, for obvious reasons, in those destinations where the COVID-19 has had a lesser impact or have recovered more quickly. This focus is currently on Asia, in countries such as those mentioned above, or others such as Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines or Indonesia, whose productive capacities are key to cooperation in the post-COVID-19 scenario.