Can U.S. - China Ties Be Repaired?

SCMP: Donald Trump’s latest attack on China over coronavirus ‘highlights challenge in repairing relations’

* The US President’s warned that China should ‘face consequences’ if it was ‘knowingly responsible’ for the Covid-19 outbreak
* Observers expect US hostility towards to China to remain and say Beijing will struggle to overcome that if it wants to improve matters

Donald Trump’s latest attack on China over the Covid-19 outbreak should serve as a reminder to Beijing of the difficult road that lies ahead if it wants to repair relations, analysts have warned.

In his latest barb at China, the US President said on Saturday that Beijing should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic.

“If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake,” Trump said. “But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences,” he told reporters at a news briefing at the White House. He did not specify what actions the US might take.

In recent days the two sides have scaled back their rhetoric and stopped pointing the finger at each other over the handling of the crisis.

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WNU Editor: It is not only the U.S. that China will have trouble repairing relations. Every country in the world has been severely damaged by this pandemic, a pandemic that many are accusing China of starting. China will need to respond openly and honestly, and sending tokens of medical aid to other countries is not going to give them a pass. Unfortunately. If what I am reading from the Chinese side is true, they are still completely clueless on the role that they have played in producing this pandemic, and are instead claiming that these attacks are racist while at the same time threatening the U.S. (and I presume other countries) that China will retaliate if these accusations continue ....

..... Victor Gao, a vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based think-tank, said it was “not meaningful” to guess what Trump would do next, adding there was no justification for “Trump or whichever politician in the United States” to blame China.

“Actions of prejudice and bigotry will be as bad as the coronavirus itself,” Gao said. “It will come back to haunt them one day, one way or another”.

As Washington’s mistrust and hostility towards Beijing increases, calls for China to be more aggressive in hitting back have been growing.

Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Global Times, a tabloid affiliate of People’s Daily, wrote on the Chinese social networks Weibo and WeChat that China should take “necessary actions” that would make life harder for the Trump administration.

My prediction. This type of stupid rhetoric from China is only going to result in a backlash that they are not prepared for. And it will not only come from the U.S., but from almost every country in the world.

Update: The above video is a discussion on the future of US-China relations, featuring the Director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) China Power Project Bonnie Glaser; Founder and CEO of CHINADebate and former investment banker, diplomat, lawyer, and CIA spy Malcolm Riddell; Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute and former NSC Senior Director for Strategic Planning Robert Spalding; and Chair of the UC San Diego 21st Century China Center and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Susan Shirk.