Cold War with China

The cold war between China and the United State is expected to be a larger worry for the world over that it has towards the coronavirus, according to Jeffrey Sachs, an influential economist. While being interviewed with the BBC, Sachs said in the aftermath of the pandemic that the world is on track for a “massive disruption without any leadership”

Sachs further warned during his interview that the growing differences between the two superpowers will amplify this. Sachs, who is a profession with the Columbia University laid blame on the U.S administration for the increasing hostile relations between the two countries. Commenting during the BBC’s Asia Business Report, Sachs said “The US is a force for division, not for cooperation. It’s a force for trying to create a new cold war with China. If this takes hold – if that kind of approach is used, then we won’t go back to normal, indeed we will spiral into greater controversy and greater danger in fact.”

The Columbia University professors comments come as the tensions before China and the United States are rising on multiple fronts. This includes far more than current trade deals after Trump signed legislation that will apply sanctions against any officials from China that are responsible repressing Muslims in Xinjiang province.

Trump used the coronavirus and stated during an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he believes China may have taken advantage of the virus and the spreading of it to de-stabilise competing economies. The Trump administration and the recently signed legislation also targets Chinese companies, particularly, telecom giant Huawei, which it says is being used as a way for China to spy on its customers.  

Tensions Increasing

The US, however, is not the only country that is in conflict with China. Additional conflicts have arisen this week between India and China after twenty Indian soldiers were killed. China for their part has not released any information on the number of deaths on their side, choosing to refuse to provide truthful facts.

Commenting on the multiple disputes, Sachs stated:”Do I believe that China could do more to ease fears which are very real? I do. The big choice frankly is in China’s hands. If China is cooperative, if it engages in diplomacy, regional cooperation and multilateralism, in other words – soft power – because it is a very powerful country…. then I think that Asia has an incredibly bright future.”