US-China relations: come together to beat Covid-19, American academics say in new report

The ‘failure to seize this opportunity for cooperation has increased the suffering’ of Chinese and American people, Princeton professor Thomas Christensen says

Washington risks ‘weakening its diplomatic standing’ if it does not rejoin the World Health Organization, he says

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US academics have contributed to a report on how Joe Biden should handle America’s relationship with China. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00pm, 20 Nov 2020Updated: 10:56pm, 20 Nov 2020

China and the United States should hit the reset button on their Covid-19 cooperation and join forces to prevent the global health crisis getting any worse, according to the collected thoughts of a group of American academics, diplomats and economists.

The report, titled The Future of US Policy Toward China: Recommendations for the Biden Administration, was jointly published on Tuesday by Yale University and the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

According to one of the 17 contributors, Princeton University professor and former US State Department official, Thomas Christensen, the lack of a concerted effort by the world’s two largest economies had cost them both, and other countries, dearly.

“The failure to seize this opportunity for cooperation has already increased the suffering of the Chinese and American populations during this crisis,” he said.

“The failure of Washington and Beijing to work together to mitigate the health and economic costs in Africa, Latin America and Asia will hurt the diplomatic reputations of both countries,” he said.