The end of the affair

摘要

THE National Security Strategy released by President Donald Trump's administration last year augured a major change in China-us relations. Where its predecessors lauded the merits of cooperation with the emerging superpower, Mr Trump's document promised competition and resistance to Chinese trade and other abuses. The tirade Mike Pence launched against China last week doubled down on that commitment. In a speech delivered at the Hudson Institute, a short walk from Congress and the ongoing Kavanaugh brouhaha, the vice-president castigated the Chinese for bullying investors, buying allies with cheap loans, "tearing down crosses" and much else. This may turn out to be Mr Trump's most significant mark on the world. America's new adversarial posture towards China is overdue, popular and probably irreversible.