AMERICAN ANTI-CHINESE RACISM DURING THE COVID-19 CRISIS AND ITS STRATEGIC FUNCTIONS

Abstract. The Covid-19 crisis that hit the USA especially hard was accompanied by intensified anti-Chinese racism fuelled by the anti-Chinese rhetoric used by the Trump Administration. Although Trump’s political opponents blamed him for having mismanaged the pandemic response, the anti-Chinese stance was a bipartisan issue. The article aims to analyse anti-Chinese racism in its systemic and historical dimensions. It examines the nature and strategic utility of antiChinese racism for past, the Trump, and future administrations as well as for America’s elites generally. It is shown that anti-Chinese racism was substantially transformed during the pandemic and above all utilised to address the general destabilisation of the US-dominated socio-political and socio-economic order both at home and globally. China’s growing importance around the world and the potential domestic destabilisation of the US mean that the strategic utility of anti-Chinese racism may well remain important for some time to come. Keywords: Covid-19 crisis, Trump’s presidency, antiChinese racism, systemic racism, foreign policy