The 'tutor' no more

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"When SARS hit in 2003, the United States was China's tutor. Now America's doctors and scientists are desperate to learn how their Chinese counterparts vanquished the coronavirus in Wuhan," Professor Peter Beinart wrote in an article published by The Atlantic on March 28.

It might be an exaggeration to say that they are "desperate." After all, China and the United States have different political, economic and social structures. What the Chinese government is capable of might not be what the U.S. could accomplish. Just take the recent flip-flop on the New York quarantine for example. The idea was floated by U.S. President Donald Trump, only to be forgone later after the Governor of New York issued a stern rebuke, calling such an act as "federal declaration of war." Unlike China, who has been able to mobilize the entirety of its government in times of crisis to impose unconventional measures, the U.S. federal government is facing backlashes from state authorities.

But, there's no doubt that the rapidly spreading COVID-19 in the U.S., in comparison to a China that seems to be getting back on its feet, has touched a nerve within the U.S. political circle. Politicians like Marco Rubio and Nikki Haley have taken the chance to promote a medical decoupling from China. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kept referring the pandemic as "Wuhan Virus," even the official Weibo account for U.S. Embassy in China used the term in one of its posts. Stephen Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist, called the Chinese government an "existential threat to the Chinese people and to the world.""I honestly believe we're getting the nomenclature wrong," Mr. Bannon said, adding that this should be called "CCP Virus" and claimed "the Chinese people are the victim of this."

A woman wears a mask near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the Financial District in New York, U.S., March 4, 2020. /Reuters

The New York Times has reported that Bannon's words are what many of senior government officials believe in. This group of people long believed that China is mounting a challenge to the U.S. dominance. The virus has just put more fuel on this flame.

The truth is, discussion about systematic advantages or superiority is a moot subject, especially at this time. Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister of Singapore, said in a recent interview with CNN that there are things that China should've done better in its response. He points out that the many countries "do not have the Chinese government and yet they have not found it easy to keep the outbreak under control in their country."

It is just a fact that China has plenty of experience to share with the United States and the world, given it has dealt with the outbreak for months before the U.S. government started to mobilize. And the U.S. has seemingly taken after some of these measures. Like the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan Hospitals in Wuhan, America has constructed a

temporary hospital

to treat COVID-19 patients. The much discussed "social-distancing" also arises from the self-quarantine that Chinese people have been conducting since late January.

And it's not like China has been hoarding all the equipment to itself. It has donated 2 million surgical masks, 200,000 N95 masks and 50,000 testing kits to the European Union. Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba, gave 1 million masks and 500,000 tests to the U.S. And on March 29, a plane carrying more than 130,000 N95 masks, 1.8 million face masks and gowns and other necessary equipment acquired in China touched down in New York.

Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University said in a recent commentary in Foreign Policy Magazine that "the key to success is also leaning the importance of power with others." For decades, the United States have enjoyed its power dominance. The COVID-19 has put it in a different position where it has been unable to outdo the others. It seems like even the "tutor" has something to learn.

Script writer: Huang Jiyuan

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