Chinese Vice Premier Liu He held a phone conversation with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday, in an effort to create conditions for the implementation of the China-US phase one trade deal and cooperation in public health.

The pandemic could have been a crucial moment for both countries to conquer differences and overcome a common challenge. But the bilateral ties between the world’s two largest economies have encountered setbacks as the Trump administration passed the buck over its reckless handling of the pandemic and threatened tariffs on China.

As China has made utmost efforts to offer essential personal protective equipment to support America’s efforts to curb the epidemic, some US officials portray China’s motives as driven by geopolitics and even go further to scapegoat China, accusing China of restricting the export of COVID-19 materials.

What both sides need is not tariffs or confrontation but enhancing cooperation on disease prevention and control as well as trade consultation.

China has gradually weathered the public health crisis and the resumption of work and production is underway, but the pandemic still extracts a considerably heavy toll on the world’s second largest economy.

Despite better-than-expected April figures, the latest official data indicated China’s foreign trade is facing mounting challenges including order cancellations or delays, difficulty in signing new orders and poor logistics.

With over 129 million infections of COVID-19 in the US, the world’s largest economy was hit by another blow: the jobless rate last month reaching a record high of 14.7 percent.

As China’s biggest trade partner and the world’s hub of international finance and trade, whether the US can contain the spread of the virus is crucial not only to itself but also China and every other country in this interconnected world.

“The blaming China mindset risks decoupling China and the United States and hurting our efforts to fight the disease, [and] our coordination to reignite the global economy,” wrote Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Tuesday.

As the two countries represent the interests of developing and developed economies, facilitating bilateral cooperation is key to fostering cooperation on combating the pandemic, especially for developing countries which are more vulnerable in terms of their abilities in disease prevention and control.

Both countries excel in manufacturing capacities of vaccines, and mobilizing research resources toward developing vaccines is crucial to the world. Similar daunting tasks include supporting the WHO and other international organizations in coordinating efforts, enhancing global health governance, maintaining the stability of global supply chains and so on.

Unilateralism will not save the world economy or tackle the virus that spreads across borders. The positive signals released by China and the US in trade talks could be a booster for enhancing bilateral cooperation. Underneath globalization, it is time that the two countries stand in solidarity to facilitate the flow of personnel, supplies, ideas and medical care services in a time of crisis.