Yun Tang

Opinion | As a second wave looms, the US and China must escape the coronavirus ‘trap’ and work together to avert disaster

The Covid-19 trap, a twist on the Thucydides Trap, has limited policy options for the US and China. But this head-on collision is avoidable, and stable relations can cushion the world from upcoming shocks

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A commuter wearing a protective mask sits on a bus displaying an electronic sign that reads “Stay Home. Save Lives” in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, on April 21. Photo: Bloomberg

Yun Tang

Published: 3:00am, 4 Jul 2020Updated: 4:30am, 4 Jul 2020

The recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the US is a telling sign that the virus might be the most devastating in world history. The scope of its spread has far surpassed the 14th-century Black Death in Europe.

Unexpectedly, the pandemic has also formed a “trap” that pits the US against China, which alternatively became the epicentre of the calamity. An outbreak of the new coronavirus was first reported in China and, subsequently, the US is now the hardest-hit nation, with more than 2.7 million cases and 130,000 dead.

“This is worse than Pearl Harbour. This is worse than the World Trade Centre,” President Donald Trump said, when faulting China for spreading the virus to the US. He even threatened to “cut off the whole relationship” with China.

US-China relations had already been dented by trade wars, but Covid-19 triggered the mutation of bilateral ties from symbiotic rival-lovers to pathogenic rival-loathers.

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Coronavirus pandemic creates ‘new Cold War’ as US-China relations sink to lowest point in decades

Furthermore, the serendipity of 2020 has exacerbated the destructive power of the Covid-19 trap. With Trump facing an election battle in November, he will surely blame China for its impotency in tackling Covid-19.