Spotlight: China-U.S. ties under COVID-19 test -- East, West, together's best

Source: Xinhua| 2020-04-08 18:49:00|Editor: huaxia

by Xinhua writers Luo Jun, Huang Yinjiazi

BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- With over 1.4 million confirmed cases, 80,000 deaths and massive economic disruptions globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an acute challenge not only to the health systems in all countries, but also to their economy and governance.

After an initial period of confusion and chaos in coping with the novel coronavirus disease, the world has gradually come to realize the importance of forming a united front against the pandemic, while watching closely and anxiously how Washington and Beijing would mold their ties under the pressure of COVID-19.

Analysts and observers around the world agree that the pandemic could bring a major shift in the world order. "The reality is the world will never be the same after the coronavirus," said former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in an article published last week by the Wall Street Journal. "Leaders are dealing with crisis on a largely national basis, but the virus' society-dissolving effects do not recognize borders."

"Restraint is necessary on all sides -- in both domestic politics and international diplomacy. Priorities must be established," Kissinger said, recommending a practical approach to addressing the urgent task.

That vein of thinking is also reflected in a newly released book "Fake Fear: America and China Relations," which states that "on the global stage of the 21st century, the actors have changed."

"A new world needs a new world view. The centuries-old viewpoint of major-country conflict and power politics does not conform to the new times any more. The notion of either China-West or South-North conflict should remain confined to historical textbooks," the book says.

However, there is still noise out there politicizing the COVID-19 battle, even fanning the suspicion that China could use the anti-virus war to gain political influence or to undercut U.S. leadership.

Such groundless anxiety is not only unhelpful to the China-U.S. ties, but could also be deadly at such a time when the world is facing a truly malicious pandemic.

"Instead of mutual demonization, thinking Americans and Chinese should recognize that each nation needs the other to defeat this deadly enemy," said Graham Allison and Christopher Li, Harvard professor and researcher, in an article published on The National Interest magazine.

"Partnership, even if only a limited partnership, is thus a strategic necessity," the scholars said, stressing that "success in defeating this demon will require nothing less."

Indeed, it is easier to destroy than to build; spreading hatred is easier than facing the problem. However, the world -- whether China or the United States, the East or the West, the South or the North -- needs to rise above such derelict behavior and take up the challenge with united efforts.

It may catch some eyes to peddle sensational theories of geopolitical power struggle. But at the end of the day, it is the frontline medical workers and ordinary people who put their lives on the line to fight off the real enemy, the real killer, the real threat of humanity.

What is encouraging is that mutual assistance has existed from the start, including between China and the United States, and the two countries are well-positioned to build on their cooperation to overcome the pandemic and the economic gloom it brings.

On Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson reaffirmed that China is ready to continue to provide as much support as it can for the U.S. fight against COVID-19, and recalled that many Americans gave the Chinese people a lot of assistance when the epidemic first broke out.

In his recent phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that the two sides should be united against the COVID-19 pandemic.

China is closely following and concerned about the epidemic situation in the United States and sincerely hopes that the United States contains the spread of the epidemic at an early date so as to reduce the losses inflicted by the disease upon the American people, Xi told Trump.

Some local governments, non-governmental organizations, institutions and enterprises in China have been providing the United States with assistance in medical supplies.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has thanked the Chinese government for helping facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators to his state.

"I thank the Chinese government, Jack Ma, Joe Tsai, the Jack Ma Foundation, the Tsai Foundation and Consul General Huang," Cuomo tweeted Saturday, calling it "a big deal" that is "going to make a significant difference."

In an even more emotional expression, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai wrote in an opinion piece published Sunday in The New York Times: "We will always remember that in our most difficult days, our friends in so many places -- many of them Americans, many of them New Yorkers -- offered us a helping hand. We stand ready now to repay their kindness and help them make it through too."

China has not been extending a helping hand to friends and partners around the world to get applause or out of geopolitical calculation, but because helping is the right thing to do. The same belief was held by those who helped China during devastating disasters like the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

In his article, the ambassador urged the two sides to "lead international efforts in collaborative research into treatments and vaccines, and explore the sharing of pharmaceutical technologies among nations."

"We need to help countries with underdeveloped medical systems and contribute to better global health governance," he said.

Concerted efforts are also needed to address the economic fallout of the pandemic, as the book "Fake Fear" points out: "In the past decades, China-U.S. cooperation has created a global supply chain that has benefited billions of people around the world. But the chain can be ruptured in a flash and this is what should really make the world afraid."

In this regard, Cui called on the two biggest economies in the world to enhance coordination of macroeconomic policy to stabilize markets, ensure growth and people's livelihoods, and keep the global industrial and supply chains open, stable and secure.

In today's increasingly interdependent world, China and the United States have both their own national interests and their due global responsibilities. For the sake of not only themselves but the whole world, they have to cooperate to coexist. How they advance depends on their will, wisdom and whether they can learn to listen to others.

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