Coronavirus: keep calm and get the economy going again, Chinese adviser says

International relations expert Jia Qingguo says boosting growth will also help other countries and ‘would be good news for the world’

He says combative diplomats reflect anger in China, but they should consider public sentiment elsewhere and base arguments on facts

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A government adviser said China needed to speed up resumption of economic activities. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 7:00pm, 26 May 2020Updated: 11:18pm, 26 May 2020

Beijing should focus on reviving the coronavirus-hit economy and improving ties with other nations instead of lashing out at its critics, a Chinese government adviser says.

“China should get its own situation in order in the pandemic fight so that a second outbreak can be avoided, but it should also be offering help to other countries in need,” said Jia Qingguo, an international relations expert at Peking University and a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

His remarks came as tensions escalate between China and the United States, the world’s two largest economies, over areas ranging from the origin of the pandemic to trade, security, the South China Sea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

US officials including President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have accused Beijing of a cover-up when the deadly new virus first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Critics have also suggested China was engaging in “mask diplomacy” by sending supplies to other countries fighting the pandemic.

China has rejected these claims, and said US leaders were trying to deflect attention from the Covid-19 situation in America – the worst-hit country by far, with nearly 100,000 deaths – and that they were harming global efforts to combat the virus.

Jia Qingguo says the economy should be the priority. Photo: Handout

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