Bonfire of two leaders’ vanities

The leader of which great power has done these five things during the Covid-19 outbreak? First, misled the world – and his country – by pretending there was no problem at the outset.

Second, once community transmission was known to be happening in his country, lied about the extent of it. Third, cracked down on principled truth tellers. Fourth, blamed another country for creating the pandemic as a way of deflecting his own failures. Fifth, dyed his hair an improbable colour.

The leaders of both of the world’s superpowers are guilty of all five. Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have bungled the epidemic shockingly. Mass death is the result. The many brave and honourable people doing selfless work in both countries have been betrayed by their leaders.

Rather than acting on the early warnings of Wuhan doctors, Xi’s regime had them threatened by police. Rather than acting to save the lives of the crew of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, Trump’s administration removed the captain who’d asked for help with an onboard outbreak.

By blaming each other for creating the crisis, Beijing and Washington are not addressing the public health problem.

Of course, the US has truth on its side in pointing out that the pandemic is a made-in-China phenomenon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s response – to claim the US Army started the infection in China – is just pathetic. But each is using the accusations against the other to deflect blame for its own incompetence and betrayal.

The virus itself is an exercise in the purest globalisation, recognising no borders. International co-operation against a universal enemy would be the responsible course.

But the two superpowers are setting up their handling of the crisis as a contest between two forms of government – China’s authoritarianism versus American democracy. In truth, these two leaders have shown that both forms can produce disastrous outcomes.

Like most leaders who posture as ‘‘strong men’’ types, they are actually very fragile.

This is not a crisis of autocracy nor of democracy. It is a crisis caused by overpoliticisation. Different types of politics, yes. But both men bungled so badly because they refuse to set aside political projects and personal vanities to deal with a medical and biological crisis.

Xi and Trump saw a virus as a threat to their personal and political status. They have demonstrated they cannot be trusted in a crisis.

Peter Hartcher is international editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.