EDITORIALS-CARTOONS: The Straits Times says- No one wins in US-China blame game

March 21, 2020March 21, 2020 Contributor 0 Comment EDITORIALS-CARTOONS: The Straits Times says- No one wins in US-China blame game

THE EDITOR

These extraordinary times provide business owners the perfect opportunity to show their decency and humanity.

Already, the threat of the novel coronavirus has upended our way of life, from the way we maintain distance from our loved ones and friends, the way we earn our living, even the way we ponder our mortality.

Businesses—some industries more than others—have seen their revenues plummet because of the diminished economic activity. Things certainly do not look good for their first quarter figures, and likely for the rest of the year.

Already forecasts for the economy have been slashed; stocks have bled in the past few weeks.Since the lockdown has immobilized the bulk of the working population, workers have worried about whether they would be able to maintain their earning capacity.

Some are fortunate to have the option to work from the safety of their homes.

Others, due to the nature of their jobs, simply do not have this luxury and must brave the checkpoints, the absence of public transportation, and the risk of contracting the virus.

This, or risk seeing their family members go hungry.Amid all this, we see pockets of good practice.

Some companies have assured their employees of their salaries and full benefits whether or not they are able to come to the office.

Others have pledged to advance the 13th-month payments, usually disbursed in December, to help tide families through these difficult times.

Those who are sick are provided medical assistance. Some executives have opted for a pay cut just to prevent the laying off of workers.

READ MORE: https://manilastandard.net/opinion/editorial/320125/compassion-is-good-business.html

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SG EDITORIAL:

The Straits Times says

No one wins in US-China blame game

Even as countries around the world impose lockdowns in the stepped-up fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, the United States and China find themselves embroiled in a different battle: the blame game. US President Donald Trump has pointedly and repeatedly called Covid-19 a “Chinese virus” – a term that stigmatises that nation, while a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official promoted conspiracy theories that the virus was brought to China by the US military. Neither, of course, is correct. Health experts have been quick to point out that pandemics have no nationality or ethnicity, and the use of terms which imply that viruses do have ethnic origins can, and indeed have led to discriminatory practices.

But this is also more than a problem of discrimination. The pandemic is now threatening to derail a US-China relationship that was just starting to stabilise. Continued name-calling will hamper global coordination at a time when it is most in need. That the pandemic has become the latest irritant in their bilateral relationship is perhaps not surprising. The politics of the moment plays very much into the nativist, nationalist tendencies that is seeing a resurgence globally. Having watched the pandemic wreak havoc on the economic growth that he tied so closely to his own political fate, Mr Trump senses some advantages in portraying the crisis as a foreign threat. White House officials highlighted criticisms of China’s handling of the virus in the outbreak’s early days – saying the pandemic could have been avoided if Beijing had done the right thing at the start.
READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/st-editorial/no-one-wins-in-us-china-blame-game

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COLUMNIST OPINION

A Wuhan in the making?

The Chinese government may have closed down the wet market in Wuhan where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. But in the heart of Bangkok, a “Wuhan in the making” continues to operate as usual at Chatuchak Weekend Market, where trade in wild animals has taken place for years.

As the number of Covid-19 infections in Thailand grew, the market was yesterday disinfected by officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus in this and other areas of the city.

However, the illicit trade in wildlife there is yet to be cleaned up.

READ MORE: https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1883320/a-wuhan-in-the-making-

It is time that Thai authorities committed to rooting out trafficking and trading of wild animals. The rapid spread of Covid-19 should serve as a wake-up call that this trade not only endangers wildlife, but also poses a threat to humans.

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A Wuhan in the making?

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