You block me on WhatsApp, I block YOU on WhatsApp!!!
The relationship between China and the US has always been precarious, but the once love-hate dynamic between the two powerhouses is quickly starting to morph into..well, a hate-hate relationship, if that makes any sense. With Donald Trump at the helm, you never really know what you’re going to get. He’s almost like a box of chocolates in that sense, except if 90% of the chocolates were booger flavoured, ya know?
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump was hard at work buttering China and its president Xi Jinping up. It almost looked like the tariff war, in which Trump himself started, was about to be over :’) But then the coronavirus happened and unfortunately for Xi and pretty much every person of Chinese descent in the entire freaking world, it originated from China.
Cue the racism and xenophobia and well, anti-China sentiments. You’d expect things like this from the common every day folk, but when it comes from POTUS himself, you can’t help but feel like this planet is pretty much screwed.
Getting back on track, the US claiming that the virus originated in a lab out of Wuhan, coupled with Trump’s insistence on calling it the China virus and the fact that they’ve revoked Hong Kong’s special trading status has certainly ramped up tensions between the two nations. The US then accusing Chinese missionaries of being spies just added some spice to it all.
It’s gotten to the point that it’s actually starting to look like one of those long dragged out break ups between two lovers who are so obviously in a toxic relationship but can’t seem to really see it. If this sounds familiar, you should get help.
With the Trump ordering the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston, China has now retaliated in a tit for tat measure by closing down the US consulate in Chengdu. American diplomats could be seen carrying box files and bags of rubbish just hours before the deadline to leave.
The only thing that both countries seem to have in common is their deluded sense of nationalism. When Chinese diplomats left their mission in Houston, they were jeered by protestors. When the American missionaries left, they too were jeered by the crowds of local residents gathered outside waving Chinese flags.
The events that the US have set in motion by accusing China of spying and stealing intellectual property has set the relationship between both countries down a path that could actually be worse than how it was during the cold war era.
Many experts have suggested that given how interdependent both countries are on each other, the ramifications of the conflict between the two powerhouses will be very serious. It’s not just the US and China that stand to lose here. The countries that take sides whether willingly or through trade deals are going to suffer too. It’s not the geopolitical conflict that the cold war was, ya know?
With so much banking on this relationship to work, you can’t help but to wonder why Donald Trump cast the first stone by blaming the pandemic on China. Of course the simple answer would be to draw on anti-China sentiments and boost his chance of a reelection win, but for him to discount the consequences of that decision is just downright short-sighted.
With the way things are going right now, it’s not looking very optimistic and should it continue, it’s going to be exactly like that one break up everyone has in their portfolio. You know, the one where it was not only messy and frustrating but required all of your friends to pick sides? Except this one will be worse.
Rest assured, the fallout from US-China ties will be closely monitored and we’ll be keeping you up to date with the latest on whats happening.
