At least make America well again first, then carry on fighting China

Yonden Lhatoo sees the announcement of US sanctions on Chinese officials over Hong Kong as the latest distraction by a government which should be fighting a coronavirus catastrophe on its own home front as a priority

Yonden Lhatoo

Published: 4:47pm, 27 Jun 2020

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So the US has just fired another salvo at China, using Hong Kong as convenient cannon fodder in their steadily heating Cold War.

And once again, it was delivered by secretary of state and thug-diplomacy specialist Mike Pompeo.

“President [Donald] Trump promised to punish the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] officials who were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kong’s freedoms. Today, we are taking action to do just that,” Pompeo said.

“I am announcing visa restrictions on current and former CCP officials who are believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy, as guaranteed in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, or undermining human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. Family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions.”

Mike Pompeo did not identify who was on the US blacklist. Photo: AFP

Curiously, no individuals on this blacklist were identified, which seems to defeat its very purpose, unless the names are coming at a later stage.

Also, if there are indeed CCP officials out there who would be hurt by such sanctions, especially if they have assets or other interests in the US, tough luck. By the very definition of their card-carrying patriotism, shouldn’t they be boycotting America anyway? Why would they want to travel to a country that hates them and vilifies them so much?

While America burns, Donald Trump is busy ‘fixing’ Hong Kong’s problems

Let’s face it, as hard as Pompeo inflates his neck pouch in grandstanding indignation at the alleged “evisceration” of Hong Kong’s freedoms by Beijing, this city is of precious little consequence at the end of the day to his lord and master Trump, who is laser-focused on one thing and one thing only: winning the presidential election in November.

Donald Trump’s re-election chances are not looking good. Photo: AFP

Chances of re-election are not looking good at the moment for Trump, so a key part of his strategy is to play to his base by ramping up the old tropes for cheap applause, China-bashing being the lowest common denominator. That’s why you hear him loudly describing Covid-19 as “kung flu” at his latest campaign rallies, racial sensitivities be damned.

China-US Cold War heats up with coronavirus conspiracy and cover-up charges

From petty name-calling and navel-gazing on the domestic front to more cynical, Machiavellian manoeuvring on the international stage, all this is about taking revenge and declaring war – minus military confrontation so far – on China for the carnage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

02:36

Trump calls Covid-19 'kung flu' again at another rally

But here is where the cognitive dissonance takes over, because the compulsive-obsessive focus on punishing China takes precedence over actually fixing what the scourge of our times is doing to America on the home front as we speak.

If there ever was an “American carnage” of the sort that Trump conceptualised in his grim presidential inauguration speech back in 2017, surely it has to be now. And all thanks to his own ineptitude and aversion to science in his handling of a catastrophe that could have been avoided, had his government faced reality like so many others did. Hong Kong included.

The true number of US coronavirus cases may be 10 times higher. Photo: Reuters

Trump and his officials continue to push their “open up America again” campaign and boast of the “tremendous progress” they’ve made, in complete denial about the fact that the US has now confirmed over 2.4 million coronavirus infections and more than 125,000 deaths. According to the Centres for Disease Control, the true number of infections across the country is probably 10 times higher – that’s a staggering 20 million-plus cases.

The unbearable hypocrisy of Donald Trump’s crackdown on peaceful US protests after supporting Hong Kong’s

Talk about unflattening the curve: the crisis is spiralling out of control with cases surging in more than 30 states, some of which are starting to halt or roll back reopening plans. A record 40,000-plus infections were reported nationwide on Friday alone. Where is the country heading at this rate?

With all that in mind, forget about making America great again. At least try making America well again first. Then go back to fighting China.

Yonden Lhatoo is the chief news editor at the Post

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: First make America well again, then go fight China

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