Relations with China

The resentment towards China for allowing this contagion to spread around the world and then trying to pretend it was someone else’s fault will take a long time to abate. The regime in Beijing has much to answer for in creating a political culture that allowed the first coronavirus outbreaks to be hushed up until it was too late. To learn that life in China is returning to normal and that this is now seen as a problem for the rest of the world to deal with is deeply depressing and worrying. It was reported at the weekend that ministers and officials in the UK government are talking of a “reckoning” once this is over, with Chinese investments such as Huawei and nuclear power set to be reversed.

But this is not the time for such talk because we may need China’s help in the coming weeks and, given its culpability, we should expect to receive it. Indeed, Beijing – having bought up much of the world’s equipment needed to deal with the virus, making it hard for other countries to get it – is distributing the kit more widely now.

This is a global pandemic and it is essential the world combats it together and does not fall into squabbling camps, with all the dangers that implies for security.

But what is particularly alarming is that the animal markets from which this disease sprang into humans are said to be up and running again in China. This is complete madness. The next contagion that emerges may be far worse than Covid-19 and endanger humanity itself. The government in Beijing promised to clamp down on these markets. They need to do so as a matter of utmost urgency or find themselves treated as a pariah state by the rest of the world.