US and China Disagreements Prompt Calls for Global Unity

“For India it is opportune that the US is applying more pressure on China, and if it can get it to behave, that would be welcomed by the entire neighborhood,” said Jayadev Ranade, President of the Center for China Analysis think tank in New Delhi.

Africa

China-US tensions are taking a toll: The African Development Bank said last year trade disruption due to the tariff war could lead to a 2.5 percent drop in economic output for some African countries.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said political disputes should be set aside to better fight the coronavirus.

“Let’s not be sucked back into isolationism or unilateralism. We need each other today more than ever,” Uhuru Kenyatta said an Atlantic Council event last month.

“We’re not going to fight coronavirus if one country fails and another succeeds,” said Uhuru.

Southeast Asia

The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations has avoided taking steps that would alienate Washington or Beijing, both important trading partners.

“The great powers, as they escalate their rivalry, will woo us into their side,” said Harry Roque, a spokesman for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. “We will advance our national interest.”

The region’s most sensitive conflict — over control of the South China Sea — escalated when the Trump administration publicly rejected most of Beijing’s claims to one of the world’s busiest waterways.