foreign policy
coronavirus

Is the Era of Cooperation Between the U.S. and China Finished?

Journal of Political Risk
MacAndrews & Forbes
Genesis
Response
Penultimate
Finale

Frances Townsend

MacAndrews & Forbes

April 9th, 2020
Having been trained as a lawyer and spent the bulk of my professional life as a prosecutor holding others “legally responsible,” I fully support holding China legally responsible for “its coverup of the COVID-19 virus,” but experience has taught me that that would require facts that the U.S. intelligence community is reportedly still gathering. I agree that there should be changes to China’s authoritarian political system and abysmal human rights record, but I am most focused on what we need to do to save American lives and that requires working with others, including some who do not share our values or with whom we may have significant disagreements. Globalization is an inescapable reality that the Coronavirus makes clear.
In the words of Henry Kissinger, this “virus’ society dissolving effects do not recognize borders.” Our national borders could not and did not protect us from the Chinese government’s early cover up and inaction, including: failing to promptly lock down Wuhan where the pandemic started, allowing those infected to travel and under reporting the numbers of those infected. We can and we must deal harshly with these facts. From my counterterrorism and anti-money laundering experience, sanctions can be enormously effective and may be an appropriate remedy for these transgressions, as Michael Greenwood suggests.
As Richard Haass writes, “a foreign policy based on opposing China is hardly suited to addressing the global challenges that shape today’s world.” We can both challenge and compete with China on trade, intellectual property theft, military expansionism and human rights, while cooperating on common global challenges like climate change, terrorism and pandemics. Regardless, we must urgently work to close the medical and pharmaceutical supply chain vulnerabilities that this crisis has laid bare. In an increasingly dangerous, interconnected World, post-Coronavirus the U.S.-China dynamic may not be unlike our post-Cuban missile crisis relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Dr. Corr misconstrues the Asia Society statement. It in no way plays into Chinese propaganda, quite the contrary. The entire fourth paragraph of the statement is devoted to pointing out Chinese faults, missteps and propaganda efforts in their response to the virus and goes on to make the case that it remains in the U.S. interest to both have limited cooperation on the Coronavirus while holding the Chinese accountable. The letter is explicit that the U.S. should not concede our interests or values to cooperate in fighting the virus.
As Dr. Kissinger points out, “no Country, not even the U.S. can in a purely national effort overcome the virus.” Dr Corr’s argument suggests a false choice, that the Chinese are our enemies or allies. What the Asia Society statement suggests is the more nuanced reality, that while the Chinese are clearly U.S. adversaries and rivals in many areas, it is in our national interest to make them our partners on the Coronavirus, where it is to the U.S. advantage and where we cannot succeed alone.
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