US-China blame game grates on Southeast Asia

2020 has been an extremely difficult year for Southeast Asia. Multiple countries are expecting an economic contraction as tourism and intra-regional trade grind to a halt in the wake of COVID-19. China has donated enormous quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing equipment to the region, while the United States has directed roughly US$80 million in pandemic assistance to Southeast Asian countries. But rather than forging a global response to the pandemic, the two superpowers have resorted to blaming one another in an information war.