Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the US-China blame game over the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic is “not going to help us solve the problem sooner.”
“Under the best of circumstances, there’s going to be a very difficult challenge for mankind. But if the US and China are swapping insults and blaming one another for inventing the virus and letting it loose on the world, I don’t think that that is going to help us solve the problem sooner,” he said
Singapore has fared well than its other Asian neighbours in fighting the coronavirus. The city-state has 844 confirmed cases so far and three deaths.
Hsien Loong said that America has often emerged as a leader in situations like these for decades and the world has benefitted from the same. He added that other nations might turn elsewhere if American leadership was not forthcoming in fighting the virus.
China’s Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, over a phone conversation on Friday came to an agreement that cooperation between the two nations was the best way to go forward in fighting the pandemic. Trump also referred to the virus as the Wuhan virus, and not the Chinese virus, as he had in the last few weeks.
On Saturday, when the number of COVID-19 positive cases went past one lakh in the US, Trump attributed it to the incredible testing system in the US. He also cast doubt on the number of positive cases in China. He said, ““I think it’s a tribute to the testing. We are testing tremendous numbers of people. I’m sure you’re not able to tell what China is testing or not testing, I think that’s a little hard.”
The president, however, got an immediate reply from Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China’s news outlet Global Times. Xijin in a tweet said, “Don’t you feel embarrassed talking about testing? The US just tested 300,000 people by March 24, while China has tested millions, at least 10 times that of the US or more. Your bragging needs treatment.”
Hsien Loong questioned the continued rhetoric by the likes of the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo that China’s opacity and throttling of whistle-blowers in the early days of the outbreak was in some way to blame for the health crisis. He said did not believe that “one can say this would not have happened if only the Chinese (had) done the right thing”.
Hsien Loong told CNN, that “Yes, of course. You (US) have the resources, you have the science, you have the influence, you have the soft power, and you have the track record of dealing with these problems convincingly and successfully, and in the greater good of many countries, not just the US.” He added that it would be a pity if the United States failed to put to use its immense expertise, soft power and resources to help fight this global crisis.
Talking about his government handling the virus’ outbreak, Hsien Loong said, “I would hesitate to talk about success because we are right in the midst of a battle which is intensifying.” The 68-year-old leader said it could be several years before the virus runs its course throughout the world “unless something happens to abort that process”.
