Afghanistan Times
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Against the backdrop of COVID-19 pandemic’s death toll soaring, with the US topping the list, President Donald Trump has attacked China once again by questioning whether it was a “mistake that got out of control” or a crisis that was started deliberately. Surprisingly, he warned that Beijing would face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the spread of COVID-19. The allegations come as China is also accused of lacking transparency in providing credible information because the city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began, revised its total number of fatalities upwards – increasing them by 50 percent. This follows Trump’s last week’s suspension of funds to the World Health Organization (WHO) because he thinks the global body is allegedly China-centric. Enraged my criticism of how he handled the crisis, Trump has engaged in a blame game and accuses WHO of misleading the world. At this historical juncture, when nearly 2.5 million cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported across the world, with over 170,000 deaths, the recent steps and remarks of Trump are indicative of unjustifiably egotistic and unreasonably dangerous behavior. As the whole world is in the same boat now, the circumstances call for a synergized and mobilized approach on a global level to tackle the virus and in a sense save humanity. This stance adopted by Trump to make accusations and deflect the blame of his administration’s shortcomings in terms of response to the pandemic is inevitably going to prove catastrophic. This is while there are concerns in the White House of a potential backlash if tensions between Washington and Beijing get too heated because the US heavily relies on China for personal protective equipment. Due to its failure to take timely action and refusal to listen to the experts, the US now has the highest rate of infection anywhere in the world. Already, over 800,000 people have been diagnosed in the US, while around 42,000 are known to have died from it. Therefore, the US cannot afford to be an isolationist now and to repulse every possible helpful partner. There is a dire need for coming together to find a solution to this menace – possibly by creating a vaccine. These blame games won’t help any side but joint cooperation would go a long way in reining in the deadly phenomenon and thus save millions of lives.
