Covid 19 and the USA- China Relationship

The origins of the covid virus have not been empirically identified and different theories have since been proffered. One of these is the belief that the virus was a deliberate biological attack on China by the USA in order to scuttle China’s economic domination of the Asian region and ultimately the whole international arena. This paper sought to analyse the validity of this theory. The paper evaluated both USA and China’s national interests, and the means available towards their achievement under the auspices of the theory concerning the origins of the covid virus.


Research Methodology
The study applies qualitative methods relying on the analysis of written literature and activities of nations within the international arena. The main purpose of qualitative research is to understanding of social phenomena or phenomena by focusing more on a complete picture of the phenomenon being studied rather than breaking it down into interrelated variables. The hope is to get a deep understanding of the phenomenon to produce a theory.

Pillars of Foreign Policy
The enactment and implementation of foreign policy lies at the intersection between a nation's domestic (internal) and international (external) aspects. Therefore, the study of foreign policy marks the structures and processes of both the international system and the domestic political system. In the study of foreign policy as a system, stimuli from the external and domestic environments as inputs that affect a state's foreign policy are perceived by decision-makers. They transpire the process of converting inputs into outputs. The conversion process that occurs in the formulation stage of a state's foreign policy refers to the way they see the situation, both in the external and internal environment. By doing so, they consider the set objectives, corresponding to the means and capabilities in their possession while weighing the possible costs and risks. Thus, foreign policy can be classified into three components: the ends, the means and the ways. It is therefore pertinent at this point to analyse USA's foreign policy towards China.

USA National Interests
In coming up with America's National Interests, The Commission on America's National Interests (2000)  Maximize US GNP growth from international trade and investment". With all these in mind it can be argued that China's rise and domination and its policies are a direct threat to the USA interests as quoted above. Bottom line, the USA had to take action to safeguard its national interests.

Risk Assessment
Basing upon the Terry Deibel (2014) Matrix on foreign affairs strategy a nation considers several aspects before adopting a course of action. These include the assessment of own and adversary's capabilities as well as weighing the consequences of enemy retaliation. China is a nuclear power with the capacity for mutually assured developments arising from the continued growth of Chinese influence and power had the potential to create great risks to US interests globally, including even the risk of war. According to US policy when a direct threat to genuinely vital interests arise and is identified, actions to protect these vital interests will override other concerns that have previously preoccupied a government or the public. It can therefore be argued that upon noticing the fast rise in Chinese power and the inherent threat to vital interests, America felt the need to scuttle it through the biological attack.

Changes in International Environment
According to America's National Interests (

The Character of a Leader
Foreign policy is a strategy or plan of action formulated by state decision-makers in dealing with other countries or other international political units, which is controlled to achieve specific national goals as outlined in the terminology of national interests. Moreover, his incitement of the American populace into the Capitol Violence supports the notion that he has the capacity to go beyond the normal in order to achieve his goals.

Application of Rational in Foreign Policy
The basic assumption of Lovell's Strategic/Rational Model is that states are considered as actors who seek to maximize the achievement of their goals based on rational calculations in the global political sphere. Lovel has suggested several main factors which influence the process of a nation-state's foreign policy strategy formulation, namely the structure of the international system, perceptions of elites, the strategies of other nation-states, and national capabilities of each state. It can be argued that this

Significance of Maintenance of Power
Power, according to Schwarzenberger (1951), is one of the major factors in International Relations. He states that community groups (countries) in an international system would do, in terms of searching for greater power, what they physically control more than they should morally do. In other words, power is the ability to obtain what is desired/to achieve foreign policy output through control over a changing external environment. Basing upon this view, the US identified the rise of China as a severe threat to its power and hence had to take 'the necessary steps' to rectify the situation and maintain in dominant status in international environment in a unipolar system.
The study of foreign policy focuses on the external behavior of states in the international system through their authorised representatives or governments to achieve their national interests. The activities of a nation's representative reflect the official position of the nation with regards to any issue. The then USA president, Donald trump is on record for deliberately referring to the virus as 'the Chinese virus" or "Wuhan virus" on several occasions in direct disregard of international best practice diplomacy and World Health Organization protocols. This can be construed as a deliberate effort by a guilty party to try and convince the international community of his innocence through continuous reference to the country of the outbreak. In the same vein, he appeared publicly on several occasions without putting on a face mask in disregard of WHO protocols. He projected a picture of the invincibility of America