MORE SABRE-RATTLING

The whole world is currently in some stage of tiptoeing around the idea of blaming China for the COVID-19 pandemic in varying degrees. This ranges from conspiracy theories of China engineering the virus and spreading it, by accident or purposefully to more grounded theories of China covering up the outbreak, thus allowing the epidemic to become a full-fledged pandemic. While certain elements in Europe and elsewhere (particularly in Germany) have indicated some kind of measures penalising China or holding them responsible, no one has been quite as vocal as Donald Trump. US President Donald Trump signalled a further deterioration of his relationship with China over the novel- Coronavirus recently, saying he has no interest in speaking to President Xi Jinping right now and going so far as to suggest he could even cut ties with the world’s second-largest economy. In an interview with Fox Business Network broadcast on Thursday, Trump said he was very disappointed with China’s failure to contain the disease and that the pandemic had cast a pall over his January trade deal with Beijing, which he has previously hailed as a major achievement. “They should have never let this happen,” Trump said. “So I make a great trade deal and now I say this doesn’t feel the same to me. The ink was barely dry and the plague came over. And it doesn’t feel the same to me.” Trump’s pique extended to Xi, with whom the US president has said repeatedly he has a good relationship. “But I just – right now I don’t want to speak to him,” Trump said in the interview, which was taped on Wednesday. It is easy enough to see this as a pre-election stunt by Trump but one must remember that the President has previously decided the fate of US foreign policy on similar whims. How this escalation plays out will hold wider interest for the world but particularly for India which has, as yet, stayed clear of this blame game and maintained amicable relations with both countries.

..... SAHIN UDDIN, MUMBAI via email