The global coronavirus crisis has led to millions of infections and deaths around the world. It has also plunged the global economy to record lows, and it sparked what could be a swift journey to worst-case scenarios in China-U.S. relations.
Trump Threatens Cutting Off China Ties
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump said his country will save up to $500 billion if it decides to cut off decades-long ties with a rising global power, China.
According to Bloomberg, Trump also said that he doesn't want to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping. His comments came after the American leader started expressing disappointment over how the trade agreement between the two economic giants has been going over the past months.
Some economic and political experts believe China-U.S. tensions will likely reach a tipping point just before the election in November. Other analysts believe the current tensions are the worst yet since the two global powers started butting heads.
Gao Zhikai, who was once an interpreter for paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, said of the situation that this is the first time since relations between the two sides normalized wherein relations have become "as dangerous and as confrontational as today."
COVID-19 Origin Threatens Ties Further
Earlier this month, Trump claimed that he saw evidence regarding the fatal COVID-19 strain having escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology's laboratory. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also echoed Trump's allegations, CNN reported.
The institute has repeatedly denied the accusations, with its lead virologist Shi Zhengli even coming out through social media to quash the rumors and theories about where the novel coronavirus started.
The Chinese government has also backed the Wuhan lab, stating that the accusations were unsubstantiated. Both Trump and Pompeo, on the other hand, said they could not reveal the evidence they saw due to its sensitive background.
What the Experts Say
So far, multiple science and virology experts have expressed their thoughts and research analysis about the Trump administration's claims.
Sources from intel shared among the Five Eyes nations suggests that the existing study about the COVID-19 strain having originated from a Wuhan seafood market was the most likely origin story yet.
The White House's Dr. Anthony Fauci himself said in an interview with the National Geographic that evidence of the COVID-19 strain's origin "strongly indicates that (this virus) evolved in nature and then jumped species."
Aside from Fauci's statements, there was also an earlier study published March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine wherein biologists said in their report that they "do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible" in terms of the coronavirus' origin.
So far, the existing evidence suggests that it is highly unlikely the new virus "escaped" from the Wuhan lab in question.
New China-US Cold War?
Due to the current situation between two of the world's largest economies, some analysts suggest that the world should prepare for a potential Cold War between China and the U.S. that could largely impact the global economy that it already did.
According to Business Insider, director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society Orville Schell warned that a Cold War has "consequences" that could "be very grave for the world and for the global economy."
Schell further explained that China and the U.S. actually have the ability to cooperate for the betterment of global trade but should the tensions keep up amid the coronavirus crisis, "there's going to be a tremendous amount of disturbance."
It remains to be seen whether the two sides will come together amid the global health emergency. As of Thursday, the Johns Hopkins University logged over 4.4 million confirmed COVID-19 infections and over 300,000 deaths from the fast-spreading disease.
