COVID-19: The latest US-China battlefront

The COVID-19 outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China late last year has now become a global pandemic. Otago University's Dr Nicholas Khoo argues it is has also become the latest front in an already intense US-China rivalry.

The US has recorded well over 60,000 deaths from COVID-19, the highest number in the world.

This reality reflects the combination of a number of factors: The Wuhan Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership’s gross mismanagement in the early days of the epidemic; the delay by central authorities in Beijing in reporting the full scale of the crisis to the WHO; and the mystifying complacency of US President Donald Trump, who was repeatedly notified of the pandemic in late January.

A series of actions by the CCP leadership at provincial and central levels has exacerbated the crisis, and provided fuel for critics in the US.

These actions include: the punishment of whistle-blowing doctors in Wuhan who raised alarm bells over the virus in December, some who later succumbed to it; under-reporting of the number of infections and deaths from the virus; and the advancement of conspiracy theories on the coronavirus’ origins by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials.

Let us be clear, even before this crisis, US-China relations were already severely strained by a range of issues, including persistent Chinese trade surpluses with the US, China’s policy in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and Beijing’s treatment of the Uighur ethnic minority in Xinjiang.

The coronavirus crisis can be added to this list of issues in bilateral relations, and it could not have come at a worse time for world trade.

In January, Beijing and Washington reached a “phase one” agreement on trade, after a more than year-long “trade war.”  How is China going to make the required purchases of US goods in a period when world trade is collapsing?

Could the crisis nevertheless pose a golden opportunity for Trump, as well as a major vulnerability?

In announcing a 60- to 90-day suspension of the US’ contributions to the WHO on April 14, Trump repeatedly focused on the WHO’s failure to more aggressively confront China over its handling of the outbreak in Wuhan.

He also stated several times in April that the US would be investigating the Chinese government’s role in the pandemic’s spread.

Trump’s hard-line stance represents a dramatic shift.

As the virus was spreading through the US in February, Trump repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for his handling of the crisis. This changed as the virus took hold.

At a news conference on March 19, Trump effectively placed responsibility for the crisis at China’s feet, stating that “it could have been stopped right where it came from, China,” and “the world is paying a very big price for what they did.”

Trump’s obvious shift to attack mode might be a case of too little, too late.

The presumptive Democratic nominee, former US vice president Joe Biden, has highlighted Trump’s initial deference to Xi as a major point of difference between him and the president.

Trump “ignored the warnings of health experts and put his trust in China’s leaders instead,” Biden has said.

China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic is now a front-and-centre US presidential campaign issue.

Nicholas Khoo is an associate professor in the politics program at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His research focuses on Chinese foreign policy and Asian security.

This article first appeared in the Taipei Times.

- Asia Media Centre