The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be another obstacle in the Trump-era US-China relationship, and throws into uncertainty, once again, whether the future will make the two competitors friend or foe.

It didn’t have to end this way, but the die is now cast. After 48 years of painstaking progress, a major rupture of the US-China relationship is at hand. This is a tragic outcome for both sides – and for the world. From an unnecessary trade war to an increasingly desperate coronavirus war, two angry countries are trapped in a blame game with no easy way out.

As Graham Allison of Harvard University has warned, “when a rising power like Athens, or China, threatens to displace a ruling power like Sparta, which had been the dominant power in Greece for a hundred years, or the US, basically alarm bells should sound.” Nowadays, the alarm bells are sounding so loud that they are drowning out ideas that would allow the United States and China to escape what Allison called the “Thucydides Trap.”

The coronavirus demonstrates the need for broader cooperation between China and the U.S. Now is not the time to decouple the bilateral relationship.

It’s probable that Sino-U.S. relations will continue to deteriorate and slip into cutthroat competition if the opportunities for cooperation provided by the epidemic are missed.

Will China and the United States be able to jointly lead a cooperative effort to stop the global epidemic? Don’t hold your breath.

The impact of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has been severe. Just as pervasive has been the anti-Chinese rhetoric that has gradually overtaken the Trump administration’s dialogue with the American people and the resulting anti-Chinese sentiment that is putting many Asian Americans in danger.

The coronavirus has only deepened U.S.-China competition and could weaken America’s global standing if Washington continues to stubbornly adhere to “America first” and forgo its long-standing international leadership.

China-U.S. relations could turn for the worse when the epidemic passes. But there’s a glimmer of hope. If they take prompt action to ease the tension and cooperate in mitigating the health crisis, they can avoid what might be a devastating geopolitical conflict in the post-pandemic world.