Politics and diplomacy between the two countries are escalating into a conflict that may soon be unstoppable.
The American accusation
According to Reuters, national security adviser Robert O’Brien compared the alleged Chinese coverup of the incipient manifestations of the coronavirus with the Russian coverup of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. “The cover-up that they did of the virus is going to go down in history, along with Chernobyl. We’ll see an HBO special about it ten or 15 years from now,” said O’Brien.
The nuclear disaster was estimated to have caused 60,000 deaths around the world in the long term. HBO made a mini-series about the event in Ukraine starring Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson. The coronavirus has killed 347,095 people and the numbers keep growing.
The White House accuses the Chines officials that they downplayed the menace of the virus in December, after hiding its appearance in November. The consequences are horrid and all “because the real information was not allowed to get out,” said O’Brien.
President Trump is constantly attacking China blaming it for the human and economic losses. Disturbed by the close ties the World Health Organization has with Beijing, Trump menaced WHO to stop the US funding.
“We are trying hard to come out of an economic disaster. But a knockdown fight with China has been thrust upon us. The takeover of Hong Kong is the writing on the wall,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Chinese response
The Chinese officials have their version. A spokesman for Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, suggested that it was the US troops that planted the virus in Wuhan last year. The minister warned the US to “give up on its wishful thinking of changing China” so a “new Cold War” won’t start.
Stuart Varney, an anchor on FOX Business, considers that China and the US are already in a Cold War. This came as a conclusion based on the Chinese force response to Chinese pro-democracy supporters who were demonstrating in the streets.
The pro-democracy protests in China begun last year. The new legislation proposed by China against foreign interference and secessionist and subversive activity made the protesters get out int the streets and sing slogans such as “Stand with Hong Kong,” “Liberate Hong Kong,” and “Revolution of our times.” The protesters were aggressed by the police with tear gas and a water cannon.