Xi and Trump are insecure 'strongmen' who had nothing to offer in a crisis but vanity, writes Peter Hartcher
The leader of which great power has done these five things during the COVID-19 outbreak? First, misled the world – and his own country – by pretending that there was no problem at the outset.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are more alike in their handling of the coronavirus crisis than they would concede.Although there are many brave and honourable people doing selfless work in both countries, they have been betrayed by their leaders.How many people around the world have died needlessly because Xi suppressed the truth of the original outbreak last year and pretended there was no virus?
Of course, the US has truth on its side in pointing out that the pandemic is a made-in-China phenomenon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry's response – to claim that the US Army started the infection in China – is just pathetic. But each is using the accusations against the other to deflect blame for their own incompetence and betrayal at home.
He predicts "the most difficult phase since the establishment of US-China diplomatic relations in the 1970s".The two superpowers are setting up their handling of the crisis as a contest between two forms of government – China's authoritarianism versus American democracy. In truth, these two leaders have demonstrated that both forms can produce disastrous outcomes. Democracy's advantage is that the people, if they so choose, can bloodlessly remove a bad leader.
This is not a crisis of autocracy nor a crisis of democracy. It is a crisis caused by overpoliticisation. Different types of politics, yes. But they have both bungled so badly because they refuse to set aside their political projects and personal vanities to deal with a medical and biological crisis.
As the two superpowers intensify their rivalry, where does that leave Australia? It would be a fatal error to treat this is a matter of moral equivalence. So what if Xi and Trump are as bad as each other? Australia can't treat this as an interesting intellectual exercise. This is not about the relativities of morality but the absolute of the national interest.
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