Opinion | For the US and China, the coronavirus pandemic could be a game changer

Coronavirus disruptions are shaping domestic political currents while the world’s assessment of their Covid-19 efforts could have lasting soft power ramifications

Crucially, the race is on for economic recovery. Which economy bounces back faster from the coronavirus knock will affect the longer-term outcome of their power game

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 9:00am, 31 Mar 2020Updated: 9:00am, 31 Mar 2020

When faced with a common threat, China and the United States have always united, during WWII, the cold war and the nuclear crises on the Korean peninsula. However. in recent years, they have been in strategic competition. Thanks to the novel coronavirus, they are engaged in a conflict on a new front.

The first shot was fired by The Wall Street Journal, who published a commentary titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia”, about the Chinese response to the outbreak. Beijing retaliated by expelling three reporters of the newspaper. Then the US government escalated tensions by limiting the personnel size of US bureaus of official Chinese media outlets.

Besides this, there was a quarrel over the US offer to spend up to US$100 million in coronavirus help to China and other affected countries, which the Chinese side did not seem grateful for, instead criticising the US for suspending flights to and from China at its darkest hour.

Then there was the spat over the origin of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Many in the US believe it came from China, while some Chinese suspect the US. The controversy quickly escalated into a war of words. After US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeatedly referred to the novel coronavirus as the “Wuhan virus”, a senior Chinese diplomat cast doubt on the transparency of information disclosures from the US government. US President Donald Trump joined the spat, provocatively using “Chinese virus” in his speech and tweets.

Why are bilateral relations deteriorating at the height of a public health crisis when cooperation is urgently needed? It was mainly due to the two leaderships’ different perceptions of the severity of the coronavirus outbreak. Both are on the same boat but with one on deck and the other in the cabin, they perceived the coming storm differently.

If the outbreak had happened at the same time in the two countries, it is likely that neither will blame the other. At the height of the outbreak in China, there were few confirmed cases in the US, so the Trump administration was relaxed and saw no need to actively respond. After China defused its crisis and it was America’s turn to suffer, the US started to complain about China covering up information and worsening the situation, and that angered China.

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