The United States continues to launch a large-scale information campaign to discredit China. They talk a lot, blame a lot, but still do not understand how to make China pay for American mistakes.
The American accusations against China are, of course, unfair. China is not to blame for the fact that the virus appeared on its territory. He did not create it and even more so did not infect his citizens with it. China is not to blame for the fact that it quickly defeated the virus - unlike liberal countries, the government did not hesitate to introduce electronic means of monitoring the society, and the society itself was disciplined and implicitly settled in the most severe quarantine. China is not to blame for the fact that from its territory the virus spread to other countries - globalization is to blame, with its massive movement of people around the globe.
China is not to blame for the fact that more than 1.4 million people were infected with the coronavirus in the United States and 85 thousand were killed - almost one and a half times more than during the entire Vietnam War. Thank you for this. States should say their poor health care system - super expensive for the population and almost inaccessible to people who have lost their jobs. Finally, China is certainly not to blame for the fact that while Beijing was actively helping other countries fight the coronavirus (earning both credibility and hundreds of millions of dollars through medical contracts), the United States closed everyone and even shoved medical equipment from allies, driving the remnants of their world leadership into the mud.
However, those who need justice will not find it in the Washington corridors of power. Money reigns there, sober calculation and domestic political gain. American strategists clearly calculated that due to all of the above, due to a series of American mistakes and Chinese leadership demonstrations, a pandemic could be the beginning of the “Chinese era,” and it was decided to bring down the Chinese on take-off. In this regard, they are fortunate that in power in the United States is a man who does not hesitate to get involved in a conflict with Beijing. According to Trump, China’s “viral” attack on the United States is the largest attack on America in its history. More extensive than the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and Islamic terrorists on the World Trade Center in 2001. Conservative American political scientists (in particular, Michael Rubin) praise Trump for the fact that, unlike his predecessors, he is not afraid of "China's economic power, trade importance and military potential."
However, in addition to this, Trump clearly understands how to use the “Chinese attack on America” in the domestic political game. We are seeing deja vu 2016, when Russia was the same element.
Now, however, this element does not work against Trump, but against his rival Joseph Biden, who, according to the Republicans, is too pro-Chinese. “Joe and Hunter Biden will defend China at all costs. Trying to protect their wallets, they downplay the role of China in the global epidemic. And President Trump is fighting for you, not for China, ”said President Donald Trump, the son of the head of state, Jr. And these words are already backed by money.
Organizations of Trump supporters (the so-called superpacks that have the right to campaign and spend money in support of the candidate, but not obliged, unlike the candidate’s headquarters, to report for their money and limit the amount of donations to their funds) spend millions of dollars to tell the hesitant voters from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and other states about the connection of Joseph Biden and “aggressive China.” Actually, in the framework of this campaign, Biden was coined the new nickname Beijing-Biden (in English, two similar words are obtained - Beijing-Biden, Beijing-Biden).
We must pay tribute to the democrats: they immediately assessed the danger and responded instantly. No, Biden’s team did not make excuses - on the contrary, she accused Trump of being pro-Chinese. The president allegedly underestimated the danger posed by the PRC in January, relied on his warm relations with Xi Jinping and took a word from Chinese statements, which made America unprepared for the epidemic. According to Biden adviser Jake Sullivan, his boss will emphasize Trump’s “colossal gap between harsh rhetoric and sluggish actions” regarding China.
Thus, now Trump and Biden will compete in anti-Chinese rhetoric and become the holiest of the Tibetan Dalai Lama in this matter. For Sino-US relations, this means only one thing: a serious anti-Chinese bipartisan consensus is emerging in the United States. Experts can arbitrarily accuse Trump of trying to use “Chinese guilt” to distract Democrats, talk about the dangers of a new Cold War with economic superpower No. 2 - American society wants Chinese blood. Not only because of coronavirus. In recent years, the United States and China have accumulated many contradictions.
Trump wants to win the competition for the status of "the most anti-Chinese candidate," so he says that there will be no ceremony with Beijing. According to him, the “Chinese plague that hit the world” caused such economic damage that 100 trade deals would not cover, not to mention “all the innocent victims” of the disease. White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro suggests invoicing China. Senator Tom Cotton has a different idea: the bill should not be the United States, but American citizens. After a small change in legislation, Americans will be able to apply to American courts with lawsuits against the PRC government for damage from the coronavirus.
The problem is that all the groundless sanctions for unsubstantiated accusations, in particular the statements of the same Mike Pompeo that the American intelligence allegedly have evidence of Beijing’s malice, which are not supported by anything, are fraught with a tough Chinese response and, as Chinese comrades warn, serious consequences for the american economy. Moreover, these sanctions may be the last straw in the patience of the Chinese leadership. The Chinese all the time tried to pacify Trump, avoided a direct conflict with the American president, and if it suddenly dawned on them that, regardless of their concessions, Trump would continue the conflict, then they might stop giving in.
Therefore, Trump needs a reason for legal action - and he got it: Beijing's inability to fulfill its obligations to purchase American goods.
The trade deal concluded in January 2020 obliges China to increase US imports by $ 200 billion by the end of 2021 ($ 76.7 billion in 2020, and $ 123.3 billion in 2021). That is, if in 2019 China imported $ 122.7 billion worth of goods from the United States, then in 2021 imports should amount to more than $ 300 billion. It should - but will not. Economists already say that it is physically impossible, including because of the consequences of the coronavirus epidemic. Instead of the planned $ 187 billion, China’s imports from the United States this year will, according to some estimates, amount to only about $ 60 billion. And if the PRC does not organize purchases at the right level by the end of the year, then Trump has every right to exit the transaction (warning about this in two months before the release date) and resume your anti-Chinese crusade.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.