US-China Relations Worsen Amid Pandemic: Economist

The COVID-19 pandemic could have been an opportunity for the U.S. and China to cooperate and disregard previous enmity. On the contrary, both countries approach the worst period since the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 through mutual exchanges of blame and conspiracy theories. The first-stage deal to stop the trade war has been signed, but tensions continue in other areas. In January, China ignored an US request, allowing disease-control experts to assess the early-stage outbreak in Wuhan. Later, the Trump administration barred non-American visitors from China, arousing criticism of China. On journalism, the United States designated five Chinese media outlets as foreign government entities and later expelled 60 Chinese reporters. In return, China asked almost all Americans working for Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post in China to leave mainland China and even Hong Kong, the biggest mass expulsion of Western reporters since 1949. Current relations are far worse than those during the presidencies of Barack Obama and Hu Jintao, when mutual distrust did not disrupt effective cooperation on significant issues, such as global financial crisis and climate change. – YaleGlobal