Pandemic at forefront of vice-presidential debate

The plexiglass barriers separating the candidates in the US vice-presidential debate on Wednesday provided a stark reminder of COVID-19's presence in the 2020 campaign.

The pandemic, which has devastated the US economy and claimed at least 211,700 lives as of Thursday morning, was at the forefront of a range of topics debated for 90 minutes by Vice-President Mike Pence and US Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

"The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country," Harris said. "And frankly, this administration has forfeited their right to reelection based on this."

Harris, 55, who is the first black woman to be on a major-party presidential ticket in the United States, said that on Jan 28, the vice-president and US President Donald Trump were informed about the "lethality" of the disease and "they didn't tell you".

"Now you're standing in a food line because of the ineptitude of an administration that didn't tell the truth," she said.

Pence, 61, who also is in charge of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, called the administration's effort the "greatest national mobilization since World War II" and said it saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the US.

"We believe we will have tens of millions of doses of vaccine by the end of the year," he said.

Of the vaccine, Harris said that "if the doctors tell us we should take it, I'd be the first in line". However, she said, "if Donald Trump tells us to take it, I'm not taking it".

Moderator Susan Page, the Washington bureau chief for USA Today, asked about the role of the vice-president, considering the age of Trump, 74, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, 77. Both debaters dodged the question.

The debate was mostly civil, a stark contrast with the chaotic, personal attacks-laden debate between Trump and Biden last week.

However, Pence repeatedly interrupted Harris and the moderator, prompting Harris to plead, albeit with a smile: "Mr Vice-President, I'm speaking".

One of the most intense clashes was about racial justice after nationwide protests over police brutality against black people.

Pence said Biden and Harris had a presumption that the US is systemically racist, and Biden "believes that law enforcement has an implicit bias against minorities".

"It's a great insult to the men and women who serve in law enforcement. And I want everyone to know who puts on the uniform of law enforcement every day, President Trump and I stand with you," Pence said.

Harris, who said she was a part of those peaceful protests, responded: "I will not sit here and be lectured by the vice-president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country.

"I'm the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide," she said.

Pence, when the two were asked how they would describe "our fundamental relationship with China, are we competitors, adversaries, enemies?", again blamed China for the coronavirus, and said the administration had been "standing up to China", which he said had been "taking advantage of America for decades".

Harris said the Trump administration's perspective and approach to China have resulted in the "loss of American lives, American jobs and America's standing" in the world.

"What ended up happening is because of a so-called trade war with China, America lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs, farmers have experienced bankruptcy because of it," she said, adding that consumers are paying thousands of dollars more for goods, "because of that failed war".

Harris also said there was a "weird obsession" that Trump has had with getting rid of whatever accomplishment was achieved by the previous administration.

"There was a team of disease experts that President (Barack) Obama and Vice-President Biden dispatched to China to monitor what is now predictable and what might happen. They pulled them out. We now are looking at 210,000 Americans who have lost their lives," she said.

Vice-presidential debates are usually an afterthought to the main event, but this year's seemed more vital to a nation coping with the consequences of the pandemic, and against the backdrop of Trump's personal battle with the virus.

"Vice-presidential debates don't usually affect the broader race, but this is an unusual election cycle, so this debate is being closely watched," Cal Jillson, a political scientist and historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, told China Daily before the debate.

"This particular debate is more important than most because the first presidential debate was so uninformative, and it is not entirely clear that the two remaining presidential debates will actually be held, given all the uncertainty around COVID."

John Hudak, deputy director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, said the Pence-Harris face-off was the most important in 40 years of vice-presidential debates.

Whether Trump is reelected or Biden wins next month, they will be sworn in during a deadly pandemic that has proved to be particularly dangerous to older men.

"Americans will be watching the VP debate with renewed awareness that one of those two individuals could easily become president－not because they ran for the office but because they succeeded to the office," Hudak said before the event.

The remaining presidential debates are scheduled for Oct 15 and Oct 22 in the run-up to the Nov 3 election.