Photo: GT

An aircraft carrying 80 tons of gloves, masks and other medical supplies from Shanghai touched down in New York City on Sunday, according to The New York Times. Yet some US politicians are still making a hue and cry in Congress as they continued their anti-China public opinion offensive. These people are risking dragging China-US relations into a state of war.

The regression in mutual trust has been the most serious problem since the US-launched trade war against China. The most important thing for the two countries is to restore the production chain and improve their fragile mutual trust. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, China and the US should cooperate.

The US now has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and the country is in urgent need of medical supplies. It is estimated that if the pandemic lasts a year, the US will require 3.5 billion masks. But production capacity in the US is not enough to meet the demand, and thus it needs help from other countries. On the other hand, China also needs to import the key components of ventilators from abroad. It is not easy for a country to meet all the needs by itself.

But this being the case, some American people are still promoting China-US decoupling. In particular, some US Congress people are hyping anti-China sentiment and dragging China-US relations into the mire. They want to wipe out all the mutual trust between the two countries. For those who advocate China-US decoupling and are wearing China-made masks, don't you feel embarrassed?

The shipment from Shanghai that arrived in New York is the product of a public-private partnership, led by US President Donald Trump's senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner. At a time when the American people are threatened by the pandemic and need more masks and medical equipment, some US politicians are clamoring for decoupling from China. They should cease these hackneyed ploys. Just imagine, what situation would the US fall into if China really imposes export control of medical supplies to the US?

Currently, the biggest peril lies in these people are consuming the last inch of mutual trust between China and the US. For example, Senator Josh Hawley and Representative Elise Stefanik introduced a resolution calling for China to provide "compensation for the harm" brought to the world. Their ruses are ridiculous and delusional. This will only exhaust our mutual trust. Neither will it bring any benefit to the US.

The US claims itself to be the only superpower of the world. We hope the COVID-19 pandemic will make it understand what situations would bedevil it without the backup of foreign aid. Washington must act to maintain and improve the fragile trust between China and the US. 

China-US relations are at a crossroads now. The COVID-19 pandemic is a major international public health issue. If the two countries cannot have basic mutual trust and strengthen their cooperation, then their relations are worrying indeed. It will also have a grave impact on the peaceful development of the world.