America’s trade war against China is continuing apace and found its latest iteration in the UN speeches that the leaders of the two countries delivered this week [China: Trump ‘spreading political virus’ at United Nations]. Trump accused China of spreading ‘the China virus’, a term with not so subtle racial/racist implications. He criticized China for allowing people to leave China in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak and reiterated his claim that the WHO is ‘virtually controlled by China’. This all comes in the backdrop of Trump facing an uphill re-election battle, America having the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the world, and unemployment levels not seen since the Great Depression of the last century.
The Chinese UN ambassador in turn rejected Trump’s words as ‘baseless accusations’ and accused the US of ‘spreading political virus’ while the world is fighting hard against Covid-19. In his speech, Xi Jinping called for ‘enhancing solidarity and cooperation, not confrontation’ and advocated giving a leading role to the WHO, and following ‘the guidance of science’. Xi also said that China had no intention of fighting ‘either a cold war or a hot war with any country’. In reference to the US, Xi said that the era of unilateralism is over and no country should be the 'hegemon, bully, or the boss of the world'.
This trade war is producing negative impacts on the BRI [Worsening Sino-US Relations Jeopardise Key Belt and Road Projects: Wheeler]. Blacklisting of Chinese entities (such as Huawei or China Communications Construction Company - CCCC) by the Trump administration is disrupting key BRI projects. For instance, CCCC is involved in 923 projects in 157 countries. The blacklisting is going to disrupt a number of them. It will reduce foreign investment confidence in those projects. China will also have major difficulties accessing high-tech micro-processor boards and chips, that it is not yet capable of producing on its own. This obviously has negative consequences for Huawei. For now China is trying to weather the storm to see what will be the result of the American presidential election in November.
M. Forough
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