Trump Sneaks Off, But US Shouldn’t Sneak Off, Too

On Saturday, the Group of 20 Summit of industrial and emerging-market nations, hosted by King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, was held via video conference call. As expected, the top issue on the G-20 conference agenda was the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese president Xi Jinping stated that China would keep its promise to offer support and aid to other developing countries and work hard to make a vaccine an effective public good available for citizens of every nation. The statement made a strong impression worldwide. Russian President Vladimir Putin also declared that Russia had already made preparations to provide a vaccine to all countries in need of it.

In contrast, U.S. President Donald Trump's behaved indifferently during summit, behavior that was criticized by the international public. Video footage shows that as King Salman was delivering his opening remarks, Trump was looking down. During the summit, Trump posted several tweets unrelated to the conference or the pandemic, complaining instead of election fraud in Michigan among other things. In addition, during the discussion on pandemic preparedness and response, Trump slipped off to his golf course.

President Trump is clearly wholly disinterested in the G-20 summit and the issues on its agenda. The only thing on his mind is the U.S. election. He participated in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, commonly known as APEC, and the G-20 summit back-to-back. Many believe that he is using these international conferences as a chance to feel important and to prove that he is still the president of the United States.

President Trump's current behavior is a model of the U.S. pandemic response in miniature. Confirmed COVID-19 infections in the U.S. have now reached a staggering 12 million cases, and the number of deaths has tragically reached 255,000. Logically, the U.S. government should be the government most eagerly seeking global cooperation in the fight against the pandemic; so far, however, Washington hasn't shown the slightest concern, continuously putting a damper on efforts to achieve a cooperative international pandemic response.

To a certain degree, this presidential election reflected voter dissatisfaction with the U.S. government's weak response to the pandemic, but the current administration is clearly not getting the message. Unfortunately, in the U.S., it takes time to turn the people’s wishes into government action.

The U.S. has achieved a breakthrough in vaccine development, but that same kind of breakthrough has already been made in China, Russia and elsewhere. United States optimism about a vaccine is somewhat exaggerated; widespread inoculation will take time, and as World Health Organization officials have said, a vaccine will only supplement the tools we already have, not replace them. Vaccine usage alone will not end this pandemic.

The U.S. did not leverage its tremendous technological and financial strength to assume a leadership role in the global response against COVID-19. Instead, it became the No. 1 COVID-19 hot spot and a global burden. Its domestic politics have continuously interfered with the international fight against COVID-19, and the Trump administration has openly positioned itself in opposition to the WHO, which leads the cooperative global pandemic response. This is inexcusable. History will hold this U.S. administration to account in the end. Washington's trickery in shirking responsibility is nothing but a short-lived political ploy and it will not stand the test of time.

The current U.S. administration has driven globalization several steps backward and backed out of many international organizations. Many are dearly hoping that the future administration of Joe Biden will make much needed amends. Regardless, many United Nations organizations and multilateral institutions have already grown accustomed to Washington's absenteeism. With or without the U.S., the world must press on and people must live their lives. We hope that Washington does not choose to further marginalize itself while humanity is grappling with such an enormous challenge. We hope that the United States doesn't simply tweet or play a round of golf while the world is working hard to respond to this crisis.

There are reports that the Biden administration is preparing to strengthen U.S. foreign ties, but many assert that the administration's purpose in doing so is to draw upon international support to "meet the China challenge." That is misguided thinking. The U.S. and its allies' biggest challenge today is not China; it's COVID-19. The greatest challenges of the future will not come from China, either. From restoring the global economy to responding to various other shared crises, China will be a partner for the U.S. and the West, not their adversary as some imagine.

If the next U.S. administration continues to regard China as the first problem it must solve, then it will be unable to lead the U.S. on any new down-to-earth path; it will continue to linger in the shadow of Trumpism.

Clearly, all of humanity will need to join hands and make a great combined effort to defeat COVID-19 for good. There is no mission more important than saving the lives of people worldwide. Moreover, the trajectory of next year's global economy will primarily be decided by how much real headway we can achieve this year against COVID-19. There's no more time left for political games with respect to the pandemic.