Trump & The Battle of the Chinese

News and analysis, by F.A.E. anonymous, Staff Writer

April 1st, 2020

For security concerns, this author will remain anonymous.

COVID-19, the newest coronavirus strewn across the globe; has locked in citizens within homes, put over 500,000 individuals under intensive care, and brutally massacred over 27,000 people (by March 28, 2020) most of whom couldn’t afford healthcare, or whose immunity failed to help fight or let alone survive the disease.  

The virus originated in the Wuhan province of China and caused over 3000 Chinese to die. The virus has also, quite unpredictably, stormed Europe and the United States in the month of March in such an unanticipated way, causing quarantines and an immediate lockdown of territories and states, confining people in their homes to decrease the likelihood of them catching that ‘formidable’ strain of virus  . Moreover, what comes as a surprise here was the fact that China had already warned both areas of the speed of infection and extreme contagious nature of this pandemic, yet both area’s did not retract to develop a scheme to counteract the virus in china, nor did they devise any strategy to respond towards these ‘Chinese’ allegations of the virus.

Moreover, Trump had always had some sort of ‘quibble’ with the Chinese; for China had always posed as an economic threat to the United States – and seeing China as a competitor, Trump immediately took note of keeping his ‘enemies closer’. His policies, speeches and conferences around his 4-year span presidency seemed to undermine China – yet, when in public contact with the Chinese, his meetings met short of any inconsistencies and lack of impression. 

It seems that Trump, who called the pandemic “the Chinese virus”, was not taken aback by President Xi Jinping testament to the dangers of Covid-19.  He had numerously declared in the months of January and February that covid-19 was not a threat to the United States, posing that the country had the situation under control. But: His words took a turn to the worse when, by March 22, numbers started to increase exponentially from only 1000 infected to over 70,000 having the virus, causing panic to spread across the United States, & causing Americans to hoard supermarkets, pharmacies and basic-supply areas.

By March 27th, Trump finished a G-20 phone call with Jinping, having extensively discussed the virus and later praising China’s efforts in combatting the virus on twitter. Both sides ceased (verbal) fire, and Jinping also gave an insightful testimony to what seemed like a fruitful conversation between him and Trump. What’s even more surprising is that Trump later withdrew his use of the phrase, “the Chinese virus”! Shocking, gruesome and rather, surprising. 

But the question here remains: Why did Trump’s sudden tone towards China change? Has the battle of the Chinese suddenly ended, or is it just beginning? Is this ceasefire a gateway to something better, or perhaps something worse?