The coronavirus as the “final straw” of the performative legitimacy? A new economic model in the post-COVID-19 era

The WHO director-general has praised the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) performed by the Chinese authorities in response to COVID-19 as “setting a new standard for outbreak response.”
While COVID-19 is still raging worldwide, in the opening session of the National People's Congress on the 22nd of May, Premier Li Keqiang confidently stated that China had pulled out of the pandemic crisis faster and in better shape than much of the world because of the “hard work and sacrifice of our [the] entire nation.” The hard work and sacrifice of the entire nation in curbing the global spread of COVID-19 however, comes at a price to the Chinese authorities: the global COVID-19 crisis has further worsened the “shrinking” performative legitimacy pillar due to the slowdown of economic growth. This chapter will first discuss the economic and political repercussions on the Chinese economy due to COVID-related NPIs. Considering the ongoing Sino-US trade disputes and the rising suspicion of China and Chinese firms in western economies, the chapter will answer the questions of to what extent the Chinese Communist Party could save its performative legitimacy through the new economic strategy, “internal circular economy,” and its implications of the Chinese economic reform in the post-COVID-19 era.