‘Pitiful sight’: German views on US and China shift amid coronavirus crisis

The coronavirus causing such mayhem around the world has mercifully left much of Germany relatively unscathed compared to the rest of Europe, but the pandemic has nevertheless caused serious damage to continent’s leading nation in one vulnerable spot – its historically close ties to the United States.

Exacerbating simmering anti-American sentiments in Germany, the coronavirus crisis has caused a major erosion of public support in Germany for its traditional allies in the US while feeding into a narrative of doubts about America and its President Donald Trump for its erratic response. Covid-19 has claimed almost 320,000 lives worldwide – including 90,000 in the United States and 8,000 in Germany.

At the same time, German views of China have seen an improbable improvement in the months since the outbreak of the virus that was first detected in China, according to the surprising results of an opinion poll published in Berlin on Monday. A pivotal nation in Europe between the United States and China, Germany is the world’s fourth largest industrial nation with rapidly expanding commercial trade with China.

“The image of the United States has worsened dramatically in recent months – not just in Germany but across Europe,” Thomas Jaeger, a political scientist at Cologne University, told South China Morning Post. “People are completely shocked by the way the United States has mishandled the crisis. They just can’t believe what they’re seeing. The one nation they thought they could always rely on for leadership and help isn’t even able to help itself. It’s a pitiful sight.”

An opinion poll done together by the Koerber Institute in Germany and the Pew Institute in the United States found that 73 per cent of Germans say their views of the United States have worsened due to the coronavirus crisis. The representative survey of 1,000 Germans also found that 37 per cent prioritise their country’s relationship with the United States, down considerably from 50 per cent in November 2019, while 36 per cent of Germans now prioritise country’s relationship with China, up from 24 per cent recorded in the last survey six months ago.