It’s natural to seek scapegoats to hide your mistakes. But the steady barrage of accusations and threats directed at China
by rightwing politicians in the US and Europe, and China’s defiant
response, is about more than deflecting blame for the coronavirus
disaster.
Pent-up resentments on both sides are suddenly bursting into the open. The danger is that escalating mutual antagonism could, if unchecked, provoke a permanent east-west rift, even a second cold war.
Under pressure to curb the pandemic, Donald Trump has agreed a temporary ceasefire with Beijing. His anti-China jibes and barbed comments about the “Wuhan virus” have stopped. Chinese officials are also stressing bilateral cooperation rather than name-calling.
The European right is piling in, too. In Italy, the xenophobic populist Matteo Salvini issued his own warning about China and Covid-19. “If the Chinese government knew and didn’t tell it publicly, it committed a crime against humanity,” Salvini told parliament.
American conservatives long hostile to China are also using the crisis to bash Beijing. They accuse China of creating the problem, then exploiting its apparent success in suppressing the virus to boost its image and propagate anti-democratic ideas.
They are intensely irritated that China, which has sent aid to about 100 countries, is taking over America’s traditional global leadership role as the US visibly struggles to contain the outbreak.
“The Chinese communist party’s list of transgressions is long and shameful,” wrote James Jay Carafano of conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation. It included failing to act sooner, lying about numbers infected, and propaganda suggesting the US started it, Carafano said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, says the virus has produced a “global battle of narratives”. China portrays itself as a reliable, disease-conquering partner for Europe and the wider world, in contrast to an untrustworthy US. Trump administration hawks and allies cast China, meanwhile, in the Soviet Union’s old role of contagious “evil empire”. Both narratives are parodies of the truth. But many on each side will believe them.
Europe, meanwhile, is caught in no-man’s land. EU leaders are struggling to collaborate amid competing national imperatives. A recent video summit saw Germany reject a French-led plan for “coronabonds” to bail out the eurozone. Italy, Hungary and Greece are among member states that have welcomed pandemic assistance from China, consistent with their pro-Beijing stance and entrenched Euroscepticism.
In the Netherlands, where a decision on allowing Huawei to help build 5G networks is due in June, the Chinese telecoms giant has donated 700,000 face masks. While this may win over the Dutch, Britain looks poised to review its Huawei links, along with other investments from China.
Read more at: Using the virus to bash Beijing could trigger a new cold war | Opinion | The Guardian
Pent-up resentments on both sides are suddenly bursting into the open. The danger is that escalating mutual antagonism could, if unchecked, provoke a permanent east-west rift, even a second cold war.
Under pressure to curb the pandemic, Donald Trump has agreed a temporary ceasefire with Beijing. His anti-China jibes and barbed comments about the “Wuhan virus” have stopped. Chinese officials are also stressing bilateral cooperation rather than name-calling.
The European right is piling in, too. In Italy, the xenophobic populist Matteo Salvini issued his own warning about China and Covid-19. “If the Chinese government knew and didn’t tell it publicly, it committed a crime against humanity,” Salvini told parliament.
American conservatives long hostile to China are also using the crisis to bash Beijing. They accuse China of creating the problem, then exploiting its apparent success in suppressing the virus to boost its image and propagate anti-democratic ideas.
They are intensely irritated that China, which has sent aid to about 100 countries, is taking over America’s traditional global leadership role as the US visibly struggles to contain the outbreak.
“The Chinese communist party’s list of transgressions is long and shameful,” wrote James Jay Carafano of conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation. It included failing to act sooner, lying about numbers infected, and propaganda suggesting the US started it, Carafano said.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, says the virus has produced a “global battle of narratives”. China portrays itself as a reliable, disease-conquering partner for Europe and the wider world, in contrast to an untrustworthy US. Trump administration hawks and allies cast China, meanwhile, in the Soviet Union’s old role of contagious “evil empire”. Both narratives are parodies of the truth. But many on each side will believe them.
Europe, meanwhile, is caught in no-man’s land. EU leaders are struggling to collaborate amid competing national imperatives. A recent video summit saw Germany reject a French-led plan for “coronabonds” to bail out the eurozone. Italy, Hungary and Greece are among member states that have welcomed pandemic assistance from China, consistent with their pro-Beijing stance and entrenched Euroscepticism.
In the Netherlands, where a decision on allowing Huawei to help build 5G networks is due in June, the Chinese telecoms giant has donated 700,000 face masks. While this may win over the Dutch, Britain looks poised to review its Huawei links, along with other investments from China.
Read more at: Using the virus to bash Beijing could trigger a new cold war | Opinion | The Guardian
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