Journal article
American Bioweapon or the ‘China Virus’? The War of Words over COVID-19
Melissa Conley Tyler, Tiffany Liu
Melbourne Asia Review | Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne | Published : 2020
Abstract
Over recent weeks, the United States and China have been using increasingly strong rhetoric around COVID-19. The war of words had real-life consequences in late March when a meeting of the G7 failed to agree a joint statement following US State Department’s insistence on referring to the virus as the “Wuhan Virus”. How have the two countries been constructing the other as the enemy? And what effect has this had on diplomacy in the region?