China-US cooperation would boost fight against pandemic: China Daily editorial

For a long time, China and the United States have carried out cooperation to jointly address the challenges of epidemic diseases. However, at the moment the US is focusing on competition rather than cooperation with China and trying to decouple from it on multiple levels. As a result, since the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, the US has sought to exploit it as part of its efforts to denigrate and isolate China.

Ignoring the fact that it is not yet known for sure where the virus originated, the US administration has claimed that China passed the virus to the world. The US administration also chose to turn a jaundiced eye to the arduous battle China waged against the virus in Hubei, and so squandered the window of opportunity that China's efforts have created for the world to prepare.

Meanwhile not content with disparaging China and its efforts directly, any parties, including the World Health Organization, that have sought to objectively evaluate China's contribution to the world's fight against the virus, have invariably come under pressure from Washington, which has shown no qualms about claiming China provided imperfect information that put the US behind the curve in its response to the outbreak. But no matter how much it tries to pass the buck, it is the US administration's own complacency that is to blame for that.

It is the US people that are now paying the price for Washington's bid to employ the virus as part of its "America First" artifices. Rather than recognizing the virus as a common challenge to the whole world, the hubris of the US administration in seeking to exploit it to impede China's rejuvenation has risked letting it run amok in an ill-prepared US.

In the face of past public health threats that have threatened the world, China and the US have continually deepened their cooperation by strengthening their government, health institution and scientific research links. Although the cooperation between China and the US in the fight against epidemics has not lasted for a long time, it has produced significant results.

Despite the anti-China sentiment that pervades Washington, China remains open to communication and cooperation with the US, as it firmly believes that the two countries can help each other, and the world in fighting the pandemic.

It also believes that as the world's two largest economies they have the shared responsibility to work together to sustain the basic operations of the international supply chains, and strengthen their coordination and cooperation to help the global economy weather the storm.

In this time of global crisis, Washington must step up to the plate.