I hosted a think-tank discussion this week with the number two

at Nato and the number two at US State Department.

The topic was in large part how Western democracies have

handled foreign policy in the age of coronavirus,

and what struck me about some polling data I came across

was, at least, one answer, which was not very well.

The data, which looked at public opinion

in America, France, and Germany, showed

China's perceived global influence

has spiked in past months.

That's since coronavirus has spread

around the world in a pandemic that's infected more than 10

million people, killing more than 500,000 people,

and destroying economies and employment across the world.

It's changed life as we know it, and it started in China.

And I'm talking to you from lockdown now.

In fact, it shows China has pretty much

doubled its global influence between January and May.

It's now seen in an overwhelmingly more negative

light, according to that data, and that's

a conclusion that is backed up by other polling that's

also out this week.

But nevertheless, more and more people

look to China as the top global power in the world.

This comes in a week where Beijing

is looking ever more assertive.

Hong Kong still has 27 years on the clock left

to run on a colonial era agreement, part of a deal

that stipulated when the time came in 1997 for Britain

to hand Hong Kong back to China that it would exist

under semi-independence under a system known

as one country, two systems.

No more.

Hong Kong is now subject as of this week

to the same national security law

that the rest of the mainland functions under, and the US

has already withdrawn its special trading status.

Pro-democracy groups have already disbanded,

businesses jittery, and the future of a financial hub

is at stake.

The Trump administration claims China is forcing countries

all around the world to choose which side they're on,

but the Trump administration is also piling

on the pressure themselves.

Economic sanctions are piling up.

Countries in the European Union, outside it

in Nato, India, the African union,

they're all having to calculate their interests

amid a competition that is operating

in the absence of any unifying arms-controlled agreement.

This one will run and run.