Socialists Should Side With Workers — Not the Chinese or American Ruling Class
The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a dangerous escalation in tensions between China and the United States. But our allegiance shouldn’t be with either country’s ruling class — it should be with both countries' workers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a COVID-19 news briefing on March 20, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)
Amid the pandemic and global recession, the US ruling class has intensified its “new Cold War” with China.
President Donald Trump and his cronies have repeatedly used racist terms like the “Chinese virus,” elevated conspiracy theories claiming that a lab in Wuhan intentionally released COVID-19 to devastate the US, and escalated Washington’s military standoff with Beijing by deploying a flotilla of warships to the South China Sea. Joe Biden has attacked Trump for being soft on China and released a deeply sinophobic ad earlier this month.
On the other side of the Pacific, Xi Jinping’s government has attempted to turn the pandemic — which it too mishandled initially — to its own advantage. Beijing has sent tests, ventilators, and masks to many other countries, attempting to project itself as a benevolent global power even as it refuses to concede basic labor rights to workers at home.
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