U.S.-China Tension Only Set to Get Worse: ‘There Is No Off Ramp’
- Trump administration set to hit China over Hong Kong, Xinjiang
- ‘China under Xi is programmed not to take a backward step’
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With Donald Trump and Xi Jinping both focused on ramping up domestic support in the wake of the pandemic, the bottom is rapidly falling out of U.S.-China relations. And few in either Washington or Beijing seem in the mood to stop it.
U.S. lawmakers are pushing the president to hit China with sanctions or other measures for its increasing grip on Hong Kong and human-rights abuses toward minority Muslims in Xinjiang. China, meanwhile, has vowed to punch back at the U.S. while moving ahead with national security legislation over Hong Kong, which prompted Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to declare the city was no longer sufficiently autonomous.