In his article "The end of the US-China relationship," Stephen S. Roach,
a faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan
Stanley Asia, describes new shifts in the China-US relationship amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. He wrote, "After 48 years of painstaking progress, a
major rupture of the US-China relationship is at hand. This is a tragic
outcome for both sides - and for the world." How should both countries
manage the economic and geopolitical risks of a full rupture? Is it
still possible for the two great powers to regain the trust and
cooperate in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic? Roach
shared his views with Global Times (GT) reporters Hu Yuwei and Zhao Juecheng.
GT：How will the current pandemic reshape China-US relations? Will it drag the two countries into a new cold war?
Roach: My basic conclusion is that the relationship between the US and China right now is the worst that I have seen in my career, and I've been following this relationship for 25 years closely. I think it started with the trade war in 2018. It's now moved into disputes over the novel coronavirus. And public opinion in the US, as measured by a Pew Research survey conducted very recently, shows bipartisan sentiment against China is as bad as it has ever been since the survey was conducted.
Also, there has been a leak of the Republican Party's political strategy that was written up by some consultants for the presidential campaign. I've read this 57-page strategy document very carefully. Its basic premise on the politics of the novel coronavirus - Do not defend Trump, but attack China. Republican strategy in the upcoming presidential election campaign is very much focused on attacking China.
Many new policies are being floated consistent with this approach: Bringing back supply chains from China, renewed or increased tariffs, or the most ridiculous of all, a threat of withholding debt payments on Chinese holdings of US treasury securities.
This strategy - after a trade war and after blaming China for the coronavirus itself - leads me to believe that the relationship is on the brink of what I would call a rupture, a complete breakdown. And I don't expect things to improve between now and the election. This is a tragedy. It did not have to happen this way. In US politics, sometimes things go in unfortunate directions. This is one of those times.
Read more at: China-US ties on the brink of a complete breakdown: Roach - Global Times
GT：How will the current pandemic reshape China-US relations? Will it drag the two countries into a new cold war?
Roach: My basic conclusion is that the relationship between the US and China right now is the worst that I have seen in my career, and I've been following this relationship for 25 years closely. I think it started with the trade war in 2018. It's now moved into disputes over the novel coronavirus. And public opinion in the US, as measured by a Pew Research survey conducted very recently, shows bipartisan sentiment against China is as bad as it has ever been since the survey was conducted.
Also, there has been a leak of the Republican Party's political strategy that was written up by some consultants for the presidential campaign. I've read this 57-page strategy document very carefully. Its basic premise on the politics of the novel coronavirus - Do not defend Trump, but attack China. Republican strategy in the upcoming presidential election campaign is very much focused on attacking China.
Many new policies are being floated consistent with this approach: Bringing back supply chains from China, renewed or increased tariffs, or the most ridiculous of all, a threat of withholding debt payments on Chinese holdings of US treasury securities.
This strategy - after a trade war and after blaming China for the coronavirus itself - leads me to believe that the relationship is on the brink of what I would call a rupture, a complete breakdown. And I don't expect things to improve between now and the election. This is a tragedy. It did not have to happen this way. In US politics, sometimes things go in unfortunate directions. This is one of those times.
Read more at: China-US ties on the brink of a complete breakdown: Roach - Global Times
