Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

China and US promise to cooperate in fight against coronavirus – but how long will it last?

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agree to work together to combat Covid-19, but acrimonious relationship between the two sides raises questions about how long a truce can last. Conversation follows agreement among G20 countries to ‘spare no effort’ to tackle the pandemic

The leaders of China and the United States have promised to cooperate to contain the Covid-19 pandemic but observers have questioned how long this state of affairs will last.

US and Chinese officials, including US President Donald Trump, have been trading barbs for weeks but Trump said on Friday that the two countries were working together closely.

Trump’s Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, said China would support the US but also called on Washington to take concrete steps to push forward cooperation.

The phone conversation between the leaders came after the Group of 20 major economies pledged solidarity to contain the outbreak, which has infected 525,000 people and killed more than 23,600 people worldwide.



However, relations between China and the US have been on a downward trajectory, with each side blaming the other for a slow response to the crisis and US officials referring to the coronavirus that causes the disease as a “Chinese virus”.

Observers said the more positive atmosphere might not last long, citing the other causes of tensions in their relationship and arguing that officials might continue to play the blame game.

Liu Weidong, a specialist in US-Chinese relations from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the phone conversation would not change the decline in the two sides’ relationship.

“Other than the temporary cooperation on curbing the pandemic, Trump did not actively respond to Xi’s call for stronger ties between the two nations, and this is an alarming sign, since Trump might take advantage of the pandemic to exert more pressure on China for strategic needs,” Liu said.

But he added: “The incendiary remarks from both nations are expected to stop after this call.”

After the talks, Trump tweeted that the conversation had been“very good”.

“Discussed in great details the CoronaVirus that is ravaging large parts of our Planet. China has been through much and has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!” he wrote.

For his part, Xi told Trump that China had been transparent and responsible in its release of information, including the gene sequence of the coronavirus, since the start of the outbreak, and had given help to other nations, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In a veiled swipe at US officials, including Trump, for making repeated references to “the Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus”, Xi said: “The virus knows no boundaries and ethnicity, and it is our common enemy. The international community can only defeat it through working together.

“The relationship of China and the US is at a critical juncture. Cooperation is mutually beneficial to both nations, while fighting will hurt. Cooperation is the only correct choice.

“It is hoped that the United States will take concrete actions to improve China-US relations, and the two sides will work together to strengthen cooperation in areas such as epidemic control,” he said.


Xi said he was concerned about the outbreak in the US and health officials from the two sides were in constant communication.
“China is willing to continue to share information and experience with the United States without reservations,” he said.

The relationship between China and the US has hit the lowest point in decades with the expulsion of American journalists from China in retaliation for US restrictions placed on Chinese media organisations and a Wall Street Journal commentary with a headline Beijing deemed to be racist.

Adding to the tension, officials from the two nations have been exchanging barbs. The US has criticised China, where the outbreak was first reported, for its slow initial response and attempts to silence people who raised the alarm about Covid-19.
But Beijing has said it informed the US in early January. Trump also angered Beijing by referring the “Chinese virus” after weeks of criticism that it was racist.

Chinese diplomats have also promoted an unproven conspiracy theory that the virus may have been brought to China by the US Army during military games in Wuhan, while their US counterparts have accused China of ordering virus samples to be destroyed in early January.

The tensions only calmed down when Trump stopped using the term “Chinese virus” this week and China’s ambassador to the US said it was “crazy” to spread rumours about the coronavirus originating from a US military laboratory.
Chin-hao Huang, an assistant professor of political science at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, said the timing of the phone call was not a coincidence.

“It’s rather strategically timed. The call came at this pivotal period where we see that the US has surpassed the number of confirmed cases in China, so that’s I think a pretty big deal,” he said.

Calculations by Johns Hopkins University show that the US has 85,996 infections, overtaking mainland China’s official tally of 81,340, although the accuracy of that figure has been questioned.

“You have the two largest economies in the world now also, the two largest countries with the highest number of confirmed cases — for the call to take place at this time, it's a bit of a symbolic gesture, ‘we’re in this together’,” Huang said.

“I think the decision to move beyond that blame game is probably signalling that both sides realise that there’s still a lot of work ahead, not just on the pandemic side.”

Xi and Trump both attended the G20 online special meeting on Thursday to discuss the pandemic with other world leaders. In a joint statement released after the meeting, the 20 countries pledged to “spare no effort, both individually and collectively” to protect lives; safeguard people’s livelihoods; protect financial stability and revive growth; minimise disruption to trade; provide help to all countries in need; and coordinate on public health measures.

The leaders also agreed to inject US$5 trillion into the global economy.

Liang Yunxiang, an international relations specialist from Peking University, said the phone call between Xi and Trump sent out a positive signal to the international community.



“China and the US are locked in a blame game and a war of words recently, bringing uncertainties to the world. And this call, at least on the surface, emphasised cooperation and engagement, which will help stabilise the world by making a gesture that the two countries won’t end up fighting,” said Liang.

“However, there were many deep-seated problems before the pandemic started, and these problems are expected to last no matter what Xi and Trump said in the phone call. In this sense, the call can only be seen as a ‘tactical truce’ between Beijing and Washington.”

Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University of China in Beijing, echoed Liang’s view and said China and the US need to find more “converging interests” to prevent their relationship becoming even rockier in the future.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×