Anti-virus cooperation sabotage by US comes at a heavy price for the world: China Daily editorial

Even with the most abundant supply of COVID-19 vaccines in the world, the daily infections of the novel coronavirus in the United States have stayed well above 100,000 for two consecutive weeks, pushing the country back to where it was in its fight against the virus when US President Joe Biden took office nearly seven months ago.

Regretfully, the resurgence of the pandemic has only prompted the Biden administration to intensify its efforts to scapegoat China for the global pandemic, and to press other countries and the World Health Organization to do the same, as if doubling down on its predecessor's blame-game tactics against China is all it will take to see the US through the pandemic.

That makes it no different from the previous Donald Trump administration in its readiness to shirk its responsibilities as a major country.

In the face of the global public health crisis, major players in international affairs are duty bound to promote global solidarity and to work together to ensure fair access to essential medical supplies and act concertedly to boost stability and growth. While that is what China and many other big countries have been doing, the US has not only refused to join hands with them, it has acted to sabotage their cooperation, trying to prevent the formation of any united front in the fight against humanity's common enemy.

Thanks to the US government's politicizing of the pandemic, cooperation is presented as being an either-or choice between siding with China or the US.

The Biden and Trump administrations' condescending attitude toward the WHO and their anti-science stance speak volumes about the divisive approach they have taken to the pandemic since the beginning. Those politicians hijacking the US' foreign relations with their anti-China agenda have shown they have no intention of tackling the pandemic as a public health threat, as they view it as an opportunity to serve their cause.

A report on the US' failure to respond to the pandemic jointly published by three Chinese think tanks on Monday indicates that it is not only the worst-hit country in the world due to its own government's failures and selfishness, but also constantly stooping to new lows to sabotage international solidarity in the fight against the virus.

That said, those hoping that the rising number of infections and deaths in the US will awaken the US administration to the urgency of changing its approach are indulging in wishful thinking, as those politicians in Washington only see the lives lost to COVID-19 in the US and elsewhere as being further ammunition with which to attack China.

In stark contrast to the US, China has been doing all it can to fulfill its international responsibilities in the war against the virus, save lives at home and beyond and maintain the global supply chains. Washington's scheme of using the pandemic to contain China is doomed to failure, but the world will continue to pay a heavy price until it accepts that fact.