Wrong move at the wrong time
The G7 leaders appealed for broad international engagement to cope with it. The G20 leaders responded to the call and identified it as an imperative common challenge that requires collective defense. The United Nations and the World Health Organization have both urged governments to come up with timely, forceful responses to contain its continuous spread.
Even as the dust appears to be settling in China, where the novel coronavirus pandemic first hit, much of the rest of the world is yet to see it peak.
In spite of all the differences over the various aspects of the raging pandemic, there is one consensus gaining traction worldwide — this is a time to cooperate.
For governments preoccupied with saving lives and containing the pandemic, this is a time to make every effort to create an atmosphere conducive to international cooperation, either through information-sharing, cross-border mobility control or logistics support.
The United States surpassed China in terms of confirmed infections on the same day that the G20 leaders convened their special online meeting on pandemic control.
That was also the day when Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump talked on the phone, pledging cooperation.
Yet also that day, the US president signed into law the “Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act of 2019”. The law obligates the US government to upgrade relations with Taiwan, help the latter participate in international organizations, and review ties with countries forsaking diplomatic relations with it.
Although Trump’s signature was a formality after the draft legislation was unanimously approved by both chambers of the US Congress, doing it at such a juncture — when the US and China face a precious opportunity to join hands in fighting the pandemic — was more than just inopportune timing.
As an angry Beijing has stated, while harming Chinese interests, it in no way serves US interests. The principle of one China is the cornerstone of the present-day China-US diplomatic relationship. The engagement between the two countries was enabled by the US government shifting its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China.
What has added to Beijing’s indignation have been reports of nearly simultaneous US military maneuvers off Taiwan, which could not but be read as being anything other than being openly provocative and sending “wrong signals” to the independence-minded forces in Taiwan.
The US moves are counterproductive at this time of crisis when the two sides need to enhance their coordination to combat the pandemic.