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Coronavirus: China, US urged to abandon cold war mentality to unite against ‘common enemy of human beings’

  • The pandemic has re-escalated tensions that appeared to have cooled somewhat after the signing of the phase one trade deal in mid-January
  • Officials from both sides, including US President Donald Trump, have been involved in a war of words in recent weeks

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The pandemic has re-escalated tensions between China and the United States that appeared to have cooled somewhat after the signing of the phase one trade deal in mid-January. Photo: EPA-EFE

China and the United State must abandon their cold war mentality and unite to fight the “common enemy of human beings” in the coronavirus, according to a group of Chinese scholars said.

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The pandemic has re-escalated tensions that appeared to have cooled somewhat after the signing of the phase one trade deal in mid-January.
A claim by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman that it was the US military who “brought the epidemic to Wuhan” was followed up on Thursday with American President Donald Trump saying that “the world is paying a very big price for what they did”, seen as an accusation that China covered up the outbreak in the early stages.

China have also claimed Trump’s “Chinese virus” label to be a smear on the country, while the tensions are also believed to have contributed to Beijing’s decision to expel American journalists from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

We see how vulnerable humans are in the face of the virus, so tiny it is, so unseen and untouchable, but it can melt down the US stock market … the solidarity of all human beings is vitally important
Victor Zhikai Gao

“China is not an enemy of the US. The Chinese people are friends of the American people, the cooperation between China and the US will benefit both two countries and is essential for the advancement and development of all mankind,” said Victor Zhikai Gao, vice-president of the Beijing-based think tank, the Center for China and Globalisation.

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