By Shashi Malla
Genesis
US President Donald Trump’s misguided foreign policy [not to mention his stupid domestic policies] is now having its unintended consequences. At every step of his presidency, he has amply demonstrated his downright ineptitude. The American people will have to pay a heavy price for electing such a nincompoop! An uncharitable observer could very well say that the people deserve the very government they choose to elect.
Although, the United States and China are technically not at war [at least not a hot one], political pundits of various denominations have been employing the metaphor of war.
Chinese Perspective
Right from the beginning, China determined that Covid-19 was a new virus and a serious threat, not to itself alone, but the world at large. It immediately informed the World Health Organization (WHO), which on its part informed all its regional offices and all its government members. Otherwise, many countries could not have reacted as they did. Somehow, the United States under the brilliant leadership of its great and stable genius [the Don’s own words] missed the boat!
China made huge sacrifices to contain the deadly new coronavirus, thereby creating a window of opportunity for the rest of the world [including, of course, the United States] to start their own contingency measures.
After successfully combatting the spread of the pandemic within its own borders, China is now demonstrating international solidarity by sending medical professionals and equipment to other countries — whether Western developed, emergent or developing Third World countries – in need. Unfortunately, many Western pundits are predisposed by categorizing this as China acting only in its own interest to multiply its spheres of influence in the world at large!
As the Malaysian economist Andrew Sheng observed: “Anything that China does that is supposed to be good will be treated as a conspiracy for China to grab power. China in the eyes of the West cannot do anything right” ( quoted in: Yu Yongding& Kevin P. Gallagher: “Covid 19 and the Thucidides Trap”, Project Syndicate, April 24, 2020).
American Dimension
At the start of the pandemic, US President Donald Trump did have glowing words of praise for his “very good friend” Xi Jin-pin for his firm stewardship and coordination. For unlike the very (un)stable evil genius, Chairman Xi does have a very sharp scientific and technological bent of mind [having studied chemical engineering and law, and being awarded a doctorate].
For reasons known to himself, Trump the Don has made a 180 degree shift in his assessment of China’s major contribution. And his lackeys, lead by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (aptly titled ‘Secretary of Hate’) have followed suit. Instead of recognizing China’s decisiveness and thanking it for its international solidarity, official US has now taken the lead in denigrating the country.
All available evidence point to the indubitable fact that the United States was not prepared for this pandemic. As professor Tali Mendelberg of Princeton University points out, the relevant question to ask is not what went wrong, but “What went right?” [vide: “America Failed to Prepare for Disaster Long Before Trump Took Over”. NYT/New York Times, April 28, 2020].
Then the Don and his administration, including his public health experts botched up the whole response. The latter are also highly culpable because till this day they are still toadying to this ignorant, uncultured, science-denying chief executive.
Then Trump and his administration did something unthinkable and most sinister: they engaged in a cover-up of the start of the pandemic, according to Professor Ryan Goodman and Danielle Schulkin, legal scholars at New York University [NYT, April 28, 2020]. Trump’s administration presented a picture of ‘denial, delay and dysfunction’ (The Washington Post).
Now that the Don is getting the shakes with regard to his re-election, he and his campaign have found domestic and foreign scapegoats. He has now launched an offensive of finger-pointing on a massive scale. In the domestic field, he does have his base of loyal supporters and those in the right-wing media, led by Fox News, that egg him on. But come November, it can only be hoped that the vast majority of Americans will reject him – for their own sakes and the world at large.
In the international arena, the Don has lost any semblance of credibility. Trump does excel in the domain of deception, and he has been overwhelmingly recognized as the non plus ultra of the international pariah!
Shift in the Global Power Balance?
It is, however, much too early to speculate on the shift of global leadership from the United States to China. A Catalonian analyst goes so far as to suggest that we are witnessing how the pandemic is hastening “the shift of global hegemony from the United States to China” (Manuel Manonelles: “Covid-19 and the global power balance” in: Nepali Times, April 28, 2020). In fact, the use of the term ‘hegemony’ is quite far-fetched. The so-called ‘American Century’ came to a hasty end on September 11, 2001.
There is also much speculation among political scientists whether we have now entered the era when “Thucydides’ Trap’ becomes operational. This is a political metaphor introduced by Harvard professor Graham Allison in 2015 based on Greek historian Thucydides’ analysis of the ancient Peloponnesian War in which he theorizes that when one great power [Athens] threatens to displace another [Sparta], war is almost always the result.
This is not only too deterministic a theory, but it is vastly outdated in the era of nuclear weapons.It may be the factual world situation of neither war nor peace between the United States and China, but in their own national interests and that of the wider world, they have no choice but to cooperate and collaborate in diverse fields – of course, after the end of the terrible Trump episode.
The writer can be reached at: shashipbmalla@hotmail.com
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