Commentary by Zhong Sheng*
COVID-19 is a common challenge faced by all mankind, and only solidarity and cooperation can defeat it.
The global community is looking forward to an early control of the virus in the US, as US President Joe Biden recently unveiled his administration’s national strategy to cope with the pandemic and signed executive orders to mobilize resources and curb the COVID-19 spread.
The world is also expecting the new US administration to enhance solidarity and cooperation with the rest of the world, so as to jointly safeguard global public health security.
The Trump administration shocked the world for its COVID-19 response. It attacked and withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) at a critical moment and undermined the global health governance system, played political and stigmatizing games by slandering other countries and shifting responsibilities, and forcefully withheld anti-pandemic materials and fanned up the so-called “decoupling” in the name of the pandemic, which seriously threatened the security of global industrial and supply chains.
All these wrongdoings damaged global solidarity and triggered broad criticism. Stephen Walt, professor of international affair at Harvard University criticized the Trump administration for its “belated, self-centered, haphazard, and tone-deaf response” that ended up costing Americans trillions of US dollars and thousands of otherwise preventable deaths. What the administration did also “tarnished the United States’ reputation as a country,” he said.
Darkest hours
The US is going through the darkest hours since the pandemic broke out. Around 70,000 Americans lost their lives because of COVID-19 last December alone. The New York Times recently reported that this month, the average deaths per day exceeded 3,300, more than the number of people killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The US holds around 4 percent of the world’s population, but its COVID-19 infections and deaths make up 25 percent and 20 percent of the world’s total, respectively. Facing such a fatal crisis, Americans hope the new administration can turn the table around and enhance cooperation with other countries, so as to play the due role of the country in safeguarding humanity’s health.
Common aspiration
As the world’s largest two economies, China-US cooperation in fighting COVID-19 conforms to the interests of the two peoples, and is also international society’s common aspiration.
In the past, cooperation between the two countries had made a positive contribution to coping with global challenges. After the international financial crisis broke out in 2008, coordination between them was believed to be a key factor stabilizing the global market. In 2014, when the Ebola virus emerged in west Africa, the two countries actively responded as major countries and made important contributions to the epidemic’s early control.
Today, COVID-19 is posing huge challenges to people’s health and lives, and cooperation between China and the US is what the world hopes to see as it can boost the global community’s confidence in winning the fight.
Former US under secretary of state Robert Hormats believes the US administration’s initiative on COVID-19 should include cooperation with China. Cooperation between the two countries’ researchers and scientists on development and production of therapeutic treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19 not only conforms to the interests of the US, but also can save lives in other countries, he said.
China has always upheld the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and been committed to promoting global solidarity and cooperation in fighting the pandemic. China supports its cooperation with the US and has offered abundant anti-pandemic materials to the latter. It has also facilitated non-governmental cooperation between the two countries to defeat the virus. Between March 1 last year and January 10 this year, China offered, through exports or donations, more than 42 billion masks, 900 million pairs of surgical gloves, 780 million protective suits, 50.66 million pairs of goggles and nearly 16,000 respirators to US sister provinces and cities, while friendship associations, non-government organizations and enterprises also donated massive medical materials to the US
China welcomes the Biden administration’s decision to halt US withdrawal from the WHO, and has reiterated that it is willing to enhance anti-pandemic cooperation with the US and other countries. China always believes that only through cooperation can mankind’s health be safeguarded, and victory in the global fight against COVID-19 cannot be achieved until the virus is eliminated in the last country.
As a Chinese saying goes, a wise man changes as time and events change. Facing global challenges, major countries should uphold the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and demonstrate their due wisdom and responsibilities.
China is willing to enhance anti-pandemic cooperation with other countries, including the US, and offer assistance and support for the US in fighting the pandemic within its capacity. If the US can pick up its cooperation spirit and meet China halfway, it would be conducive to not only enhancing the wellbeing of the two peoples, but also strengthening the global health governance system, which will finally help the world walk out of the shadow of COVID-19 as early as possible.
*Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy
– Minor edits and subheadings by The Macau Post Daily
– Courtesy People’s Daily
