March 20, 2020
Virus Competition Is Wrecking China-U.S. Cooperation Hopes
As Washington shifted its worldview over the last several years to a sharp focus on China competition, even the most claw-bearing hawks generally left open the possibility of cooperation. Key transnational issues, such as climate change and nonproliferation, challenge all nations and require collaborative responses even among adversaries. While the United States and China compete fiercely, it previously seemed to most that enhanced rivalry should not preclude working together when interests dictated it.
But amid an unprecedented crisis as the new coronavirus spreads, cooperation is the last thing on either side’s mind. Fighting pandemic disease, which threatens every country, should be the paradigmatic example of a joint cause compelling U.S.-China cooperation. Unfortunately, it has been anything but. Where the need to fight the coronavirus might once have brought the United States and China closer together, today it is driving them further apart. COVID-19 is becoming one more feature of great-power competition, rather than an exception to it.
Read the full article in Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
The U.S. Is Losing Ground to China in Southeast Asia
Commentary
Without routine engagement, Southeast Asian countries become uneasy about U.S. commitments and tend to look elsewhere—such as to China—to fulfill their needs....
By Derek Grossman
-
Podcast
Indo-Pacific Security / Middle East Security
The Global Power Shift No One Is Talking About – And Who’s Driving ItMost people see the world as the U.S. vs. China. But the real power shift is happening elsewhere. Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security and a former ...
By Richard Fontaine
-
China May Grab a Lead in the Race for Military Fusion
Commentary
This article was originally published in The Wall Street Journal. America’s top diplomat for nuclear-weapons issues, Undersecretary of State Thomas DiNanno, revealed this mont...
By David Feith
-
Commentary
Indo-Pacific Security / Energy, Economics & Security
How to Win the Economic War with ChinaTrump's approach to China has run aground, giving Beijing unprecedented advantage in the economic conflict....
By Edward Fishman & Julian Gewirtz
