Amid US coronavirus disaster, Trump tries to shift focus to China with increasingly anti-Chinese messaging

Donald Trump has insisted that deaths from coronavirus (Covid-19) are much higher in China than in the US, despite official statistics painting a far different picture. This comes as Trump and his supporters have been boosting anti-Chinese sentiment as part of his re-election campaign.

The stats

China has more than four times the population of the US but has reported far fewer deaths. At the time of writing, China has reported 4,632 deaths, while the US has reported 41,356. The full reality is difficult to know. Deaths from the virus have not been fully reported in either country because the pandemic is still raging in the US and still being accounted for in China.

A scientific model that US public-health authorities have repeatedly cited, from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, now projects more than 60,000 Covid-19 deaths in the US by August. Its worst-case scenario is for more than 140,000 deaths by then. These projections assume current social distancing is maintained until infections are minimised and the spread is contained.

Making sinophobia mainstream again

Anti-Chinese sentiments (or ‘sinophobia‘) have come into sharp focus in recent weeks in the US. In March, Trump called coronavirus the “Chinese virus” on numerous occasions:

"President Xi strongly leads" became "China virus" because Trump failed to prepare when he should have. https://t.co/R6a3uX9XHE

— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) April 10, 2020

And Trump’s focus on China has continued:

This new Trump ad bashing Biden is also more of him trying to go on offense on COVID-19 by making it all about China. pic.twitter.com/kxSpm2AcXQ

— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) April 9, 2020

New email from Trump, continuing the anti-China attack on Biden. The election may well hinge on the right’s efforts to rally the country around anti-China politics, and the Democrats’ ability to fend off this attack pic.twitter.com/r667egHjCN

— Tobita Chow (@tobitac) April 11, 2020

https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1251656993581838336

His allies on the right, meanwhile, have taken the same approach. And they’ve even sought to link the opposition Democratic Party to the Chinese government.

Democratic Party responds… by joining in

The tactic of Trump’s likely opponent in the presidential election, Joe Biden, has apparently been to respond in kind:

https://twitter.com/wilfredchan/status/1251923773739208706

The GOP has gone all-in on scapegoating China, talking about taking revenge, starting a war, kicking Chinese people out of the country

And the Democrats' galaxy brain response is that Trump is too "soft" on China

— Tobita Chow (@tobitac) April 18, 2020

I don’t know who can let Biden’s team know that even if this brings votes it’s not a “winning” message. It leans into the racism against and targeting of Asian American folks.

I haven’t been fighting for blue racism. https://t.co/V4HinFZ6mv

— blackness everdeen (@traceyecorder) April 19, 2020

Last month I argued that we cannot beat this #Covid19 crisis without confronting rightwing nationalism. But instead the Democrats are collaborating with rightwing nationalists to promote their core narrative: “Blame China”. This is disastrous https://t.co/osAUUVw9RM

— Tobita Chow (@tobitac) April 19, 2020

It’s really a devastating indictment of the Democratic Party and Joe Biden that he decided – and that his advisors and DNC almost surely agreed – that he is going to out-racist and out-xenophobe Donald Trump. Biden is directly feeding anti-Asian racism. What a dark day. https://t.co/mj8ozkywtS

— Brad Simpson (bradleyrsimpson.bsky.social) (@bradleyrsimpson) April 19, 2020

https://twitter.com/wendyliy/status/1251886001888378880

As many have pointed out, it’s possible to legitimately criticise the Chinese government (and its response to coronavirus); but that must not be the same as ‘sparking hatred‘ against the Chinese people:

https://twitter.com/hammodimissouri/status/1251897132556201984

Vile results

In an environment where politicians are turning talk of China into a political weapon, meanwhile, this is what’s happening on the ground:

“I have staff members who have been spit on by people, people have yelled at them or made comments on the subway,” he said. “People have thrown everything from pieces of paper to their leftover lunch.” https://t.co/57nA1BSqWX

— Jiayang Fan 樊嘉扬 (@JiayangFan) April 20, 2020

As the coronavirus spreads, so does online racism and hate speech targeting Asians. @hateisavirus_ #hateisavirushttps://t.co/UqFrfWlia5

— Mike Delgado (@Soyperal_eth) April 13, 2020

Growing sinophobia is a real danger. And we must stop this racist scourge in its tracks.

Featured image and additional reporting via Press Association