Four decades after the U.S. established diplomatic ties with Communist China, the relationship between the two is at a turning point. Tensions have reached new heights on what has always been a rocky road.
FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2018, file photo, American flags are displayed together with Chinese flags on top of a trishaw in Beijing. On Friday, July 24, 2020, China has ordered the United States to close its consulate in the western city of Chengdu in an increasingly rancorous diplomatic conflict. The order followed the U.S. closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston.
Two weeks ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked aloud if relations could stay on track. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered an answer: The time has come to change course.“The old paradigm of blind engagement with China simply won’t get it done,” he said in a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in southern California. ”We must not continue it. We must not return to it.
Relations between Washington and the Communist government in Beijing began to thaw in the 1970s, as China’s ties with the Soviet Union deteriorated and leader Mao Zedong sought a counterweight to its more powerful neighbor. Relations grew exponentially in the following years, with heavy investment by U.S. businesses in China and an accompanying Chinese trade surplus that has reached $350 billion annually.
American and Chinese battleships are constantly jockeying for position in the South China Sea, a vital shipping lane in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. is leaning on its allies to exclude Chinese telecom leader Huawei from their mobile networks, raising the specter of cybersecurity. On human rights, the U.S. is imposing sanctions over Chinese policies in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang,Pompeo’s speech was only the latest in a series of sharp criticisms aimed at China by Cabinet-level U.S.
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