issued debt debates over how to respond to the epidemic and its economic fallout have opened up a rift between northern and southern european member states, reminiscent of debates over the 2010s european debt crisis. nine eu countries—italy, france, belgium, greece, portugal, spain, ireland, slovenia and luxembourg—called for "corona bonds" (a type of eurobond) in order to help their countries to recover from the epidemic, on 25 march. their letter stated, "the case for such a common instrument is strong, since we are all facing a symmetric external shock." northern european countries such as germany, austria, finland, and the netherlands oppose the issuing of joint debt, fearing that they would have to pay it back in the event of a default. instead, they propose that countries should apply for loans from the european stability mechanism. corona bonds were discussed on 26 march 2020 in a european council meeting, which dragged out for three hours longer than expected due to the "emotional" reactions of the prime ministers of spain and italy. european council president charles michel and european central bank head christine lagarde have urged the eu to consider issuing joint debt. unlike the european debt crisis—partly caused by the affected countries—southern european countries did not cause the coronavirus pandemic, therefore eliminating the appeal to national responsibility. civil liberties many countries resorted to states of emergency, curtailing civil liberties and awarding executives wider powers. sixteen member nations of the european union issued a statement warning that certain emergency measures issued by countries during the coronavirus pandemic could undermine the principles of rule of law and democracy on 1 april. they announced that they "support the european commission initiative to monitor the emergency measures and their application to ensure the fundamental values of the union are upheld." the statement does not mention hungary, but observers believe that it implicitly refers to a hungarian law granting plenary power to the hungarian government during the coronavirus pandemic. the following day, the hungarian government joined the statement. the hungarian parliament passed the law granting plenary power to the government by qualified majority, 137 to 53 votes in favor, on 30 march 2020. after promulgating the law, the president of hungary, jános áder, announced that he had concluded that the time frame of the government's authorization would be definite and its scope would be limited. ursula von der leyen, the president of the european commission, stated that she was concerned about the hungarian emergency measures and that it should be limited to what is necessary and minister of state michael roth suggested that economic sanctions should be used against hungary. the heads of thirteen member parties of the european people's party (epp) made a proposal to expunge the hungarian fidesz for the new legislation on 2 april. in response, viktor orbán expressed his willingness to discuss any issues relating to fidesz's membership "once the pandemic is over" in a letter addressed to the secretary general of epp antonio lópez-istúriz white. referring to the thirteen leading politicians' proposal, orbán also stated that "i can hardly imagine that any of us having time for fantasies about the intentions of other countries. this seems to be a costly luxury these days." during a video conference of the foreign ministers of the european union member states on 3 april 2020, hungarian minister of foreign affairs, péter szijjártó, asked for the other ministers to read the legislation itself not its politically motivated presentations in newspapers before commenting on it. brexit the pandemic had an impact on the united kingdom's departure from the european union, with border checks on eu imports initially delayed until july 2021 and then delayed again to 2022 in an attempt to mitigate supply issues caused by the pandemic. the european commission–astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine dispute also led to a dispute over the northern ireland protocol. some analysts have suggested that the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic in the united kingdom has masked the impacts of brexit on the uk. moldova-romania collaboration this section is an excerpt from moldovan–romanian collaboration during the covid-19 pandemic. during the covid-19 pandemic, romania has supported moldova on several occasions, supplying it with medical equipment and supplies, volunteer romanian experts and doctors and even a series of covid-19 vaccine units that arrived on 27 february 2021, which allowed moldova to start its vaccination program. japan–south korea relations japan–south korea relations worsened as a result of the pandemic. after japan declared it would start quarantining all arrivals from south korea, the south korean government described the move as "unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable", and that it couldn't "help but question whether japan has other motives than containing the outbreak". some south korean media have offered opinions to improve relations with japan through mask assistance to japan. in addition, some local governments in japan who did not disclose their names have also announced their intention to purchase masks in korea. when this fact became known, some online commentators in japan expressed that they were against receiving mask donations from korea, worrying that it would not be a purely goodwill donation but tied to japanese government concessions on controversial topics such as the contested liancourt rocks and world war ii comfort women sexual slavery. although local korean media suggested that masks could be donated via japan's sizable korean-japanese population, the korean government noted, in the spring of 2020, that it was not considering support toward japan at that time. on the contrary, inside japan, an editorial was published stating that the korean government should donate medical supplies, such as face masks, covertly and that the japanese government should accept such donations. china the united states has criticised the chinese government for its handling of the pandemic, which began in the chinese province of hubei. in brazil, the congressman eduardo bolsonaro, son of president jair bolsonaro, caused a diplomatic dispute with china when he retweeted a message saying: "the blame for the global coronavirus pandemic has a name and surname: the chinese communist party." yang wanming, china's top diplomat in brazil, retweeted a message that said: "the bolsonaro family is the great poison of this country." some commentators believe the state propaganda in china is promoting a narrative that china's authoritarian system is uniquely capable of curbing the coronavirus and contrasts that with the chaotic response of the western democracies. european union foreign policy chief josep borrell said that "china is aggressively pushing the message that, unlike the us, it is a responsible and reliable partner." the chinese ministry of foreign affairs has claimed that the united states military is behind the virus. when australia suggested an inquiry to better understand the origin of the pandemic and to undermine the world health organization, the chinese ambassador threatened with economic retaliation. the chinese embassy to france has in turn claimed that french nursing homes were "abandoning their posts overnight ... and leaving their residents to die of hunger and disease". the chinese government has also tried to directly influence statements of other governments in order to show the country in a more positive light, including in germany, and wisconsin. china has sent aid to 82 countries, the world health organization, and the african union, which is considered by some western media as to "counter its negative image in the early stage of the pandemic". according to yangyang cheng, a postdoctoral research associate at cornell university, "the chinese government has been trying to project chinese state power beyond its borders and establish china as a global leader, not dissimilar to what the u.s. government has been doing for the better part of a century, and the distribution of medical aid is part of this mission." borrell warned that there is "a geo-political component including a struggle for influence through spinning and the 'politics of generosity'." trade in medical supplies between the united states and china has also become politically complicated. exports of face masks and other medical equipment to china from the united states (and many other countries) spiked in february, according to statistics from trade data monitor, prompting criticism from the washington post that the united states government failed to anticipate the domestic needs for that equipment. similarly, the wall street journal, citing trade data monitor to show that china is the leading source of many key medical supplies, raised concerns that us tariffs on imports from china threaten imports of medical supplies into the united states. united states in 2020 in early march, european union leaders condemned the united states' decision to restrict travel from europe to the united states. the u.s. came under scrutiny by officials from other countries for allegedly hijacking shipments of crucial supplies meant for other countries. jean rottner, the president of france's regional council of grand est, accused the united states of disrupting face mask deliveries by buying at the last minute. french officials stated that americans came to the airport tarmac and offered several times the french payment as the shipment was prepared for departure to france. justin trudeau, the prime minister of canada, asked bill blair, the public safety minister, and marc garneau, the transportation minister, to investigate allegations that medical supplies originally intended for canada were diverted to the united states. german politician andreas geisel accused the united states of committing "modern piracy" after reports that 200,000 n95 masks meant for german police were diverted during an en-route transfer between airplanes in thailand to the united states, but later changed his statement after he clarified that the mask orders were made through a german firm, not a u.s. firm as earlier stated, and the supply chain issues were under review. due to shortages in coronavirus tests, maryland governor larry hogan had his wife yumi hogan, who was born in south korea, spoke with the south korean ambassador and afterwards multiple south korean companies stated that they would send tests to maryland. on 2 april 2020, president trump invoked the defense production act of 1950 to halt exports of masks produced by 3m to canada and latin america. canadian prime minister justin trudeau said that it would be a mistake for both their countries to limit trade of essential goods or services, including medical supplies and professionals, and remarked that this moves in both directions. the canadian government turned to china and other places for crucial medical supplies, while they sought a constructive discussion about the issue with the trump administration. as of 30 december 2020, two federal politicians, eight state politicians, and five local politicians have died from covid-19. the pandemic has been cited as one of the primary reasons for trump's defeat in the 2020 u.s. presidential election. this is due to the political turmoil in the united states caused by pitting republicans against democrats over policy and procedure. the difference in views on the pandemic ultimately led to dissatisfaction with federal response. trump's successor, joe biden, claimed that his administration's "number one priority" is to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, which led to the passing of the american rescue plan stimulus package. world health organization the head of the world health organization, tedros adhanom, claimed that he had been "severely discriminated against", and had received death threats and racist insults, claiming that "this attack came from taiwan". the foreign ministry of taiwan protested this accusation, indicating "strong dissatisfaction and a high degree of regret" and that the taiwanese people "condemn all forms of discrimination and injustice". on 7 april 2020, united states president donald trump threatened to cut funding to the who. on 7 july 2020, the trump administration announced that the united states would formally withdraw from the who. on 22 january 2021, president joe biden re-admitted the united states to the world health organization. organisation for economic co-operation and development the oecd secretary-general angel gurría wrote that "this is the third and greatest economic, financial and social shock of the 21st century, and it demands a modern, global effort akin to the last century's marshall plan and new deal – combined." covid-19 has a strong regional and global impact, calling for differentiated governance and policy responses from local to international levels. a coordinated response by all levels of government can minimize crisis-management failures. international court of justice the international court of justice (icj) planned to discuss guyana and venezuela border dispute over