Business24 Newspaper 27th January, 2021

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

BUSINESS24.COM.GH

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

NO. B24 / 151 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

Equity market for SMEs to be revamped

‘Africa needs a single passport to make AfCFTA effective’

By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com

Benjamin Acheampong wants strategic projects with greater impact prioritised under AfCFTA.

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frican leaders and stakeholders behind the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) have been urged to develop a common passport to facilitate trade within the continent.

Cont’d on page 3

Gov’t committed to tackling ‘learning poverty’ gap – Dr. Adutwum

By Eugene Davis ugendavis@gmail.com

Many firms in the agro-processing space could find GAX useful in seeking capital to expand their production to meet demands

By Joshua Worlasi Amlanu macjosh1922@gmail.com

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uthorities of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) have disclosed that as part of their short-term plans, the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX), the special equity

market for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), will be revamped.

Since its establishment in 2013, only five companies have been listed on the GAX, which targets SMEs by providing for less demanding listing requirements and rules than

ECONOMIC INDICATORS EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

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the GSE. Most market experts have described this outturn as disappointing against the high expectations when the GAX was created.

Cont’d on page 2 INTERNATIONAL MARKET

USD$1 =GHC 5.7027

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

POLICY RATE

14.5%

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

11.4% OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

0.9% GHC 5.13

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ducation Ministerdesignate Dr. Yaw Adutwum has reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring that school kids in rural areas are able to improve on their reading proficiency by the age of ten.

CORN $/BUSHEL COCOA $/METRIC TON COFFEE $/POUND:

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$41.26 2.622 1,922.57 329.50 $2,339.27 $109.65

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Editorial / News

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

Editorial

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Covid fight must be pragmatic

hana’s land borders since the outbreak of the pandemic have been closed. Previously closed air borders were re-opened when government was able to implement the system to test the status of incoming passengers.

Despite the system in place, somehow the dreaded new variant of Covid-19 found its way into the shores of the country with a number of patients turning up at health facilities with it.

Irrespective of the importation of the new variant, there are calls on government to ease restrictions on land borders.

However, the Director of the Port Health Unit of the Ghana Health Service at the Tema Port, Raphael John Marfo, wants government to tread cautiously.

According to him, it is vital to be effectively systematic with procedures towards the easing of restrictions in spite of the yearn to embark on increased intracontinental trading in the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.

“You know the porousity of our borders. Until we put all the measures in place, it will not be prudent to reopen our land borders, for now. We are trying to make sure that all stakeholders would be in sync with all the protocols we are putting in place,” he expressed.

There is no denying that the AfCFTA in its infancy would need a lot of trading activities especially between Ghana and its immediate neighbours. But given the circumstances that pandemic brings, it is only prudent that

these activities, if they are likely to endanger the lives of citizens, be put on hold.

Indeed, even with the costly system set up to test passengers arriving by air, Covid-19 cases still sneaked through, one can only imagine how the country’s land borders which are typically lax would fare.

Currently, Ghana’s Covid-19 case count is dire with reports of hospitals overwhelmed with patients. This paper believes that opening up the land borders in whatever form is only a recipe for disaster for the country as well as its neighbours.

Our priority now should be to contain the situation rather than taking any measure that would likely be counterproductive.

Equity market for SMEs to be revamped Continued from cover

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However, in an interview with Business24, David Tetteh, Technical Consultant with the GSE, disclosed plans to revamp the market.

“The GAX will be revamped this year, so entrepreneurs should be looking to it for their capital requirements in the medium term. This is something that is going to happen this year, by the fourth quarter.”

He further explained: “The revamping will involve increasing the number of listings on the market and getting more buying interest as well as getting more trading to happen on the GAX.” The five companies listed on the market are Samba Foods, Meridian Marshalls Holdings, Hords, Intravenous Infusions, and Digicut Production & Advertising.

The companies hold a total of 594.72 million shares valued at GH¢48.99m.

Prior to the start of the financial sector crisis in September 2017, the GSE had said there were about 20 SMEs being prepared for listing on the market.

However, the Technical Consultant noted that the process stalled during the financial crisis,

which has been followed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“For some time now, the main exchange has not been active because there aren’t too many persons that have surplus to trade on the market, except the institutional investors. So if the stock market is suffering, naturally the alternative market would suffer,” said William Mensah, an investment banker.

“Government should target the alternative market possibly with the 1D1F companies. Those companies under its special initiative that are seen to be successful can be made to list on the GAX as part of the condition for support under the 1D1F initiative,” he added.

He emphasised that unless such an integrated policy targeted at the 1D1F companies

was developed, the alternative market would struggle to achieve its objectives.

Some experts have also called for intensified education on the GAX to boost the confidence of owners of SMEs and startups in the market.

Unlike the GSE, where listed companies must have a minimum stated capital of GH¢1m, the GAX requires only GH¢250,000 and does not require that a company have a proven track record of profitability before listing.

In addition, listing and application fees are waived on the GAX, whereas companies listed on the GSE pay an annual fee of GH¢2,000. The GAX also announced a listing support fund in April 2018, which aims to provide companies with advisory services during the listing process.

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

‘Africa needs a single passport to make AfCFTA effective’ Continued from cover According to Benjamin Acheampong, Executive Director of consultancy group Wealth Masters, the notion of “Africa Rising” will remain a misnomer unless conditions for doing business on the continent with ease are created.

He was speaking ahead of a virtual event on January 29 by Wealth Masters Group, which is under the theme “Righting the Wrongs of Doing Business in Africa Summit”, where organisers intend to provide insights and solutions to improve the business climate in Africa and take advantage of the AfCFTA initiative.

He said governments need to focus on improving internet services, communication and transport in order to ensure a smooth implementation of the AfCFTA. “When all these infrastructure are put in place, then we are on course to pull this AfCFTA initiative off.”

Trading under AfCFTA commenced on January 1, and Ghana has already freighted its

first cargo under the arrangement.

As a continental common market, AfCFTA’s objective is to facilitate the movement of goods, services and persons, and promote industrial development and sustainable and inclusive socio-economic growth in Africa.

It is estimated that the single

market will increase intra-Africa trade by as much as US$35bn per annum, by harnessing the purchasing power of the continent’s 1.2 billion people.

However, “we need to have one passport; you cannot move goods and services without people,” Mr. Acheampong said.

The Wealth Masters Group is a world-class leading provider of business development and solutions based in the UK. The upcoming virtual summit is a precursor to a main event on the continent’s business climate and the AfCFTA slated for March 8-12.

Gov’t committed to tackling ‘learning poverty’ gap – Dr. Adutwum Continued from cover Dr. Adutwum, who was making a statement in Parliament as part of the International Day of Education celebration, said government would allocate more resources to curb what has been described as learning poverty – a situation where kids are unable to read and understand simple text by age 10.

“When we talk about the disparity we see in terms of education, the fact that Zoom is not available in the public schools, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is happening because of the digital divide that we find ourselves confronted with. It finds expression in education divide and for us to be able to solve the challenge of education divide, we have to go to the root of the problem.

The good news is that the Ministry of Communications

Dr. Yaw Adutwum, Education Minister-designate

is looking at rural connectivity and when you solve the issue of rural connectivity which allows families who have mobile phones to get connectivity and help their children do school work,” he

said.

He called for a holistic approach to tackling learning poverty especially as the country is plagued by the pandemic.

“Education is a vehicle that

promotes socio-economic development and we will fight learning poverty throughout the pandemic,” he stated.

Scope of problem The World Bank’s recently introduced concept of learning poverty draws on data developed in collaboration with the UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics.

According to Dr. Adutwum, he is hopeful of attaining the approval of the legislature to fully implement a raft of new policies that detail how education should be conducted effectively amidst the pandemic.

Member of Parliament for Old Tafo constituency, Vincent Assafuah, also making a statement to commemorate the International Day of Education called for reform of the school’s curriculum to ensure that Ghanaian kids are able to compete anywhere in the world.

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

Synlab Group Appoints Mrs. Dzifa Ocra as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Synlab Ghana With the exit of Mr. and Dr. Keatley, Synlab wishes to announce the appointment of Mrs. Dzifa Ocra as the CEO of Synlab Ghana effective January 4th 2021.

Dzifa has over 20 years of relevant working experience in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector. Before joining Synlab Ghana, she was the Head of Business Development at Universal Hospitals Group. In this role, she provided leadership, technical guidance, marketing and business development direction to her team and by extension, the organisation. She was also responsible for providing vision for the development of high-impact targeted strategies that expanded the reach, impact, and recognition of the company with a primary focus on growth initiatives, tactical sales strategies, channel effectiveness as well as all stakeholder engagements and negotiations in-country and external.

“We are absolutely sure that Dzifa will have a quick and positive impact on all aspects of our business” Thomas Degott – CEO of Emerging Markets said.

Dzifa holds a Master of Science degree in Strategic Management and Leadership from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, a Certificate in X-Culture Global Collaboration Course from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA, a Master of Science degree in Economic Development from Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester NH, USA and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Geography & Resource Development from University of Ghana-Legon.

Dzifa’s leadership background and business development skills will help strengthen channel partnerships, strategic alliances and accelerate the company’s growth.

About Synlab Synlab Ghana (formerly Medlab Ghana), is Europe’s number one Medical Diagnostics Provider and it offers quality diagnostics care to families and supporting medical professionals with specialized expertise. Synlab leads the market in accuracy, precision and reliability of its diagnostic results. It achieved ISO 15189 accreditation in 2008, as we set the pace for excellence in medical diagnostics in Ghana. Synlab Ghana has offices in Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi, Koforidua and Obuasi. For more information about Synlab Ghana, visit our website: www.synlab.com.gh

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News

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

Herbal industry has potential to widen foreign exchange earnings

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hana’s herbal industry has the potential to widen the nation’s foreign exchange earnings, Dr Kofi Bobi Barimah, the acting Executive Director of the Centre for Plant Medicine Research, has said.

He, therefore, called for investment and support to the sector to add value to traditional and herbal medicines for export to enhance the nation foreign exchange and spur rapid socio-economic growth and development.

Dr Barimah said herbal medicine was efficacious and had huge market value both local and international and said more than 70 percent of Ghanaians used herbal medicine in one way or the other.

Speaking in an interview in Sunyani, the acting Executive Director noted that Ghana’s ability to manage the herbal industry would create more jobs

and increase revenue.

However, Dr. Barimah expressed regret about uncontrolled abuse of herbal drugs among Ghanaians, which

remained detrimental to the health of the people.

Herbal plants such as ‘Kaya, Neem tree and Mahogany’, he explained, had high medicinal value, but added that their misuse remained a challenge.

Dr Barimah stressed the need to make the herbal industry attractive and called on the Food and Drug Authority to regulate the sector effectively and clamp down on unlicensed herbal dealers.

Public demand and use of herbal medicine, he noted, kept increasing because of its proven efficacy, saying 40 health facilities in the country were providing herbal care services.

GNA

MTN Ghana gets approval to buy back shares

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TN Ghana, has been granted approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to buy back over one million shares of applicants, who failed to provide sufficient personal information to complete their Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements under the Company’s Initial Public Offer (IPO).

It will be recalled that shareholders of MTN Ghana at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on Thursday, December 3, 2020, gave the Company the approval to buy back shares of applicants with incomplete personal information at the IPO price of GH¢0.75.

A statement issued in Accra

by Mr Robert Kuzoe, acting Corporate Services Executive of MTN, said with the approval, all such applicants would receive a refund of their initial purchasing money and dividends accrued since the IPO. It said applicants, who did not provide sufficient KYC information could check the status of their account by visiting www.mtnghanashares.com to update their records and upload a copy of their valid ID card.

The statement said before the buyback commences, MTN Ghana was making a final appeal to shareholders to take advantage of the notice period to complete all outstanding account information.

The notice period ends on 23

February 2021.

It said affected shareholders, who needed additional information may contact www. mtnghanashares.com or IC Securities at clientservice@ icsecurities.com or 0302252621/3.

MTN Ghana Foundation empowers youth in mobile phone repairs MTN Ghana Foundation has commissioned the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Project (YEEP) at Nsawam which saw 50 beneficiaries graduate with certificates in mobile phone repairs.

The project which was a partnership between the MTN Ghana Foundation and Plan International aimed at empowering young people with employable skills needed to help reduce youth employment rates in the Nsawam area.

Experts in mobile phone repairs were engaged to train the youth in introduction to mobile phone technology, basic customer service, front end repairs, repair and rectification of faults of mobile phones. They were also trained on how to maintain a safe and secure work environment. At the end of the training programme, the beneficiaries comprising 36 young men and 14 women were each provided with equipment and kiosks to start their own mobile phone repair ventures within Nsawam and its environs.

Speaking at the commissioning

ceremony, a board member of the MTN Ghana Foundation Mrs. Nabilla Williams said “Despite the good intentions of government and the private sector, youth unemployment is a major source of concern. This is why, this project is really important and timely. The training and equipping of these youth to engage in mobile phone repairs is certainly a fantastic project which we all have to embrace.

She said: “Based on this, the MTN Ghana Foundation has committed GHc445,000 to support the training of 100 young women and men in Nsawam and Suhum. The first 50 beneficiaries are passing out today with skills in mobile phone repairs.”

On her part, the IT Manager of Plan International, Madam Maud

Tsagli, expressed her gratitude to MTN Ghana Foundation for accepting to partner them to implement the project.

She said “equipping the youth with entrepreneurial skills and employment aims at fulfilling the SDG goal 8.”

The Municipal Chief Executive for Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipal Assembly, Hon. Isaac Kwadjo Buabeng who was the special guest of honor thanked MTN Ghana Foundation for coming on board to empower the youth in his municipality.

He also encouraged the beneficiaries to put the skills and knowledge acquired to good use by not only seeing it as a source of income avenue but as an avenue to create employment for others in their various communities.

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

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Maritime

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

‘Tread cautiously on easing border restrictions’

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he Director of the Port Health Unit of the Ghana Health Service at the Tema Port, Raphael John Marfo, has expressed the need for the nation to tread cautiously with respect to easing of COVID-19 restrictions such as the reopening of the land borders.

He said it is vital to be effectively systematic with procedures towards the easing of restrictions in spite of the yearn to embark on increased intra-continental trading in the AfCFTA. “You know the porousity of our borders. Until we put all the measures in place, it will not be prudent to reopen our land borders, for now. We are trying to make sure that all stakeholders would be in sync with all the protocols we are putting in place,” he expressed.

Speaking on Eye On Port on the Effect of Rising Cases of COVID-19 on Ports and Trade, the Director of Port Health at the Tema Port, revealed that the various health directorates across the country, as part of the public health response plan are embarking on exercises to engage stakeholders at the various entry points to help implement measures that would avoid any spread of the

virus across the entry points of the country.

“At most of the ground crossings, we are identifying health facilities where they would have to directly report to if there are any health risks, at the borders,” he said.

He said measures are being put in place, such as “line listing” that would ensure that when the borders are opened, travellers that may come through the entry points of the country would

be registered in a database to enhance traceability.

“Line listing is where the transport operators, for example, STC coming from Lome, will have to provide a line list of all the travellers onboard including the origin as well as specific destination and contact addresses. This will help in-country surveillance,” he explained.

The Director of Port Health Unit of the Ghana Health Service

at the Tema Port, Raphael John Marfo said until these measures have been well coordinated and implemented, it would be risky to reopen the land borders for human traffic.

Raphael John Marfo revealed that even though the human traffic through the sea ports is basically limited to crew of cargo vessels, since May of 2020, the authorities have implemented strict crew change procedures, and this will be further intensified as far as the virus remains existent.

Also speaking on the same program, Gideon Lamptey, who is a Senior Medical Laboratory Officer, at GPHA explained that while it may seem like there has been a declined vigilance among the public nationwide, the compliance level at the Port to the COVID-19 health protocols remain high.

He revealed that sample taking exercises at the ports during the docking of vessels awaiting discharge and/or crew change have intensified.

“There is a protocol in place that ensures that all crew changes that happen at our ports have undergone screening. Those handing over and those coming to take over,” he said.

GPHA intensifies sampling, testing and contact tracing at sea ports

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Senior Medical Laboratory Officer, and Consultant Medical Laboratory Scientist, at GPHA Gideon Lamptey, has allayed concerns by some sections of the public that, COVID-19 test results emanating from the national testing centres may be compromised.

Speaking on the Eye on Port program, he said the systems in place for sample taking and testing are so robust that deliberate forgery or mistakes with respect to test results are practically impossible.

“Looking at the systems in place at the test centres, it would be very difficult. They have systems to check that the samples being taken are correct samples.”

“Looking at Noguchi for example, they have their reputation as a renowned testing center and they have a reputation to protect because they are internationally accredited,” he added.

Mr. Lamptey urged the public not to entertain such false public speculations as they are intended to only exacerbate the already existing apprehension surrounding the coronavirus.

Instead he urged the public to in addition to practising the COVID-19 prevention protocols, to avail themselves to health officers during the taking of samples for testing.

Gideon however called for some intervention to address some inefficiencies associated with the Surveillance, Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) introduced by government.

“The only challenge we have is with the entry system, SORMAS, which is very good for tracking the cases and their location, but sometimes there are delays,” he complained.

The Consultant Medical Laboratory Scientist, indicated that, at the Tema Port where he works, processes have been intensified to increase vigilance and compliance to testing protocols.

He revealed that sample taking exercises at nation’s port have intensified especially as crew change activities have increased.

“What we do basically is to ensure that we receive a medical report from the incoming crew 72 hrs, at about 10-15 Nautical

Gideon Lamptey, Senior Medical Laboratory Officer at GPHA (right) speaking on Eye on Port

Miles, to give prior notice of their intention and if they intend to do crew change. Once they get to the anchorage we go there and take samples and have them quarantined until results are ready. Similar procedures are done for the crew coming to take over,” he explained.

Also speaking on the same program, Dr. Kissi DomprehOfori, who is a Senior Medical Officer and Clinical Care Lead at GPHA encouraged the public to take health and safety protocols associated with the prevention of the spread of COVID-19.

He said it is important to acknowledge the ferocity of the virus as it is delivering more severe consequences on patients than formerly expected in 2020.

“Unfortunately we tend to

see that there a lot more deaths now. And before we were seeing deaths among elderly people with comorbidities. Now we are seeing deaths among relatively younger people with no comorbidities,” he disclosed.

He revealed that truly as speculated, there has been a detection of a new variant of the coronavirus in the country.

He said this new variant is 70percent more transmissible and appears to be more violent than the initial one that dominated the public space the entirety of 2020.

Dr. Dompreh-Ofori however urged the public not to panic, but emphasized the need for the public to intensify their adherence to the COVID-19 prevention protocols.

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

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Feature

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

January 28: Data Privacy Day

Why is Data Privacy important?

January 28 is Data Privacy Day which is “an international effort to create awareness about the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust”.

Many organizations collect people’s data for various reasons.

The digital space has made it easy to collect people’s data.

Many people are unaware of and uninformed about how their personal information is collected, processed, used, or shared in our digital society.

All over the world today, data privacy is a huge public concern of the digital age, in part because data breaches continue exposing the personal data of millions of people. These data breaches have serious impacts on affected individuals and the organizations concerned. Whiles the individuals can suffer identity theft or blackmail, the affected companies risk financial costs along with damage to public, investor and customer trust.

Data is an incredibly important asset. Data collection and sharing can be a big business in today’s digital economy. But for organizations to safely and successfully take advantage of the data they are collecting; they need to have safeguards in place to ensure that the data collected are appropriately protected from unauthorized access and misuse.

As organizations collect growing amounts of data about people, many people have begun to see the potential downsides to this data collection.

Daniel J. Solove, a data privacy expert has identified some a reasons why privacy is very

important. The following are the importance identified by Daniel: Limit on Power Privacy is a limit on government power, as well as the power of private sector companies. The more someone knows about us, the more power they can have over us. Personal data is used to make very important decisions in our lives. It can be used to affect our reputations; and it can be used to influence our decisions and shape our behavior. It can also be used as a tool to exercise control over us. And in the wrong hands, it can be used to cause us great harm.

Respect for Individuals Privacy is about respecting individuals. If a person has a reasonable desire to keep something private, it is disrespectful to ignore that person’s wishes without a compelling reason to do so.

Sometimes people’s desires for privacy are just brushed aside because of a view that the harm in doing so is trivial. Even if this does not cause major injury, it demonstrates a lack of respect for that person. In essence, it is saying: “I care about my interests, but I don’t care about yours.”

Reputation Management Privacy enables people to manage their reputations. How we are judged by others affects our opportunities, friendships, and overall well-being. Protecting reputation depends on protecting against not only falsehoods but also certain truths. Knowing

private details about people’s lives does not necessarily lead to more accurate judgment about people.

People judge badly, they judge in haste, they judge out of context, they judge without hearing the whole story, and they judge with hypocrisy. Privacy helps people protect themselves from these troublesome judgments.

Maintaining Appropriate Social Boundaries People establish boundaries with others in society. These boundaries are both physical and informational. We need places of solitude to retreat to, places where we are free of the gaze of others in order to relax and feel at ease. We also establish informational boundaries, and we have an elaborate set of these boundaries for the many different relationships we have.

Privacy helps people manage these boundaries. Breaches of these boundaries can create awkward social situations and damage our relationships. Most people do not want everybody to know everything about them – hence the phrase “none of your business.”

Trust In relationships, whether personal, professional, governmental, or commercial, we depend upon trusting the other party. Breaches of confidentiality are breaches of that trust. In professional relationships such as our relationships with doctors and lawyers, this trust is key to maintaining candor in the relationship. Likewise, we trust other people we interact with

as well as the companies we do business with. When trust is breached in one relationship, that could make us more reluctant to trust in other relationships.

Control Over One’s Life Indeed, personal data affects nearly everything on the Internet.

Without having knowledge of what data is being used, how it is being used, the ability to correct and amend it, we are virtually helpless in today’s world. We are helpless without the ability to have a say in how our data are used or the ability to object and have legitimate grievances be heard when data uses can harm us. One of the hallmarks of freedom is having autonomy and control over our lives, and we cannot have that if so many important decisions about us are being made in secret without our awareness or participation.

Freedom of Social and Political Activities Privacy helps protect our ability to associate with other people and engage in political activity. A key component of freedom of political association is the ability to do so with privacy if one chooses. We protect privacy at the ballot because of the concern that failing to do so would chill people’s voting their true conscience.

Author: Emmanuel K. Gadasu, (Data Protection Officer, Institute of ICT Professionals, Ghana) For comments, contact author ekgadasu@gmail.com | Mobile: +233-243913077

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WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

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Feature

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 27, 2021

Where Biden should be more like Trump

By Brahma Chellaney

I

n his inaugural address, US President Joe Biden declared that Americans “will be judged” for how they “resolve the cascading crises of our era.”

He expressed confidence that the country would “rise to the occasion,” and pledged that the United States would lead “not merely by the example of our power but by the power of our example.”

The contrast with President Donald Trump’s divisive, isolationist rhetoric could not be sharper. But adopting a different tone is easier than reversing America’s relative decline. To do that, Biden will need to provide wise, forward-looking leadership.

And that does not necessarily mean breaking with everything that Trump did.

America’s debilitating political polarization has undermined its international standing. Partisan considerations have hampered – even precluded – the pursuit of long-term foreign-policy objectives. US policy toward a declining Russia, for example, has become hostage to US domestic politics.

Biden’s calls for unity reflect his awareness of this. But the truth is that healing the deep rupture in US society may be beyond any president’s ability, not least because so many Republican voters seem to have abandoned all faith in evidence and expertise. So, rather than becoming consumed by domestic political divisions, Biden must rise above them.

And yet, there is one area where there is broad bipartisan consensus: the need to stand up to China. Trump understood this. Indeed, his tough China policy is his most consequential – and constructive – foreign-policy legacy. Unless Biden pursues a

similar approach, the erosion of US global leadership will become inexorable.

The Indo-Pacific region – a global economic hub and geopolitical hotspot – is central to an effective China strategy.

Recognizing the region’s immense importance to the world order, China has been steadily reshaping it to serve Chinese interests, using heavy-handed economic coercion, political repression, and aggressive expansionism to have its way from the Himalayas and Hong Kong to the South and East China Seas.

The only way to preserve a stable regional balance of power is with a rules-based, democracyled order – or, as the Trump administration put it, a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” Over the last year, this vision has spurred the region’s democracies to deepen their strategic bonds and inspired even the faraway democracies of Europe to implement supportive policies. Under the Biden administration’s leadership, countries must now build on this progress, creating a true concert of democracies capable of providing stability and balance in the Indo-Pacific.

Biden seems to understand this.

He has made clear his intention to build a united democratic front to counter China. But he is also at risk of undermining his own vision.

For starters, Biden did not embrace the term “Indo-Pacific” until after his electoral victory, and when he did, he replaced “free and open” with “secure and prosperous.” But, whereas “free and open” automatically implies a rules-based, democracy-led order, “secure and prosperous” leaves room for the inclusion of – and even leadership by – autocratic regimes. This ignores the crux of the Indo-Pacific challenge: a revisionist China

is actively seeking to supplant the US as the region’s dominant power.

Making matters worse, Biden has signaled a possible reset of ties with China. This would play right into China’s hands.

Trump’s China policy was not just about trade or human rights.

It sent the (right) message that China is a predatory communist state without political legitimacy or the rule of law. This helped to tip the scales in America’s favor.

Over the last year, unfavorable perceptions of China reached historic highs in many countries.

While this was largely because of the made-in-China COVID-19 pandemic, Trump’s ideological onslaught and China’s own aggression – such as on its Himalayan border with India – also played a role.

If the Biden administration abandons economic decoupling and treats China as a major competitor, rather than an implacable adversary, it will tip the scales in the opposite direction, relieving pressure on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regime and undermining faith in US leadership. This could embolden China to destabilize the Indo-Pacific further, with Taiwan possibly its next direct target.

Moreover, US conciliation would give India second thoughts about aligning itself too closely with the US, and would likely lead to Japan’s militarization – a potential game changer in the Indo-Pacific. It would also facilitate China’s efforts to leverage its vast market to draw in America’s democratic allies – a risk underscored by its recent investment deal with the European Union. All of this would undermine efforts to forge the united democratic front Biden envisions, compounding the threat of China’s aggressive

authoritarianism.

The worst choice Biden can make is to seek shared leadership with China in the Indo-Pacific, as some are advocating. Worryingly, Biden’s team does not seem clear on this. In a 2019 essay, Jake Sullivan (Biden’s national security adviser) and Kurt Campbell (Biden’s “Indo-Pacific czar” at the National Security Council) championed “coexistence with China,” describing the country as “an essential US partner.”

To be sure, Sullivan and Campbell did not call for SinoAmerican joint hegemony, in the Indo-Pacific or beyond. But they also did not take the clear and necessary position that the US must forge a concert of democracies to bring sustained multilateral pressure to bear on China.

After four years of Trump, Biden is right to tout the importance of domestic unity.

But a tough line on China is one of the few policy areas behind which Americans can unite. More important, it is the only way to ensure a stable Indo-Pacific and world order.

About author

Brahma Chellaney, Professor of Strategic Studies at the New Delhibased Center for Policy Research and Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Asian Juggernaut, Water: Asia’s New Battleground, and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis

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