WASHINGTON (Kayhan Intl.) — Some top Trump administration officials are moving to take a more aggressive stand against China on economic, diplomatic and scientific issues at the heart of the relationship between the world’s two superpowers, further fraying ties that have reached their lowest point in decades, the New York Times reports.
White House aides this week have prodded President Trump to issue an executive order that would block a government pension fund from investing in Chinese companies, officials said — a move that could upend capital flows across the Pacific, the paper said Saturday. Trump announced on Friday that he was restricting the use of electrical equipment in the domestic grid system with links to "a foreign adversary” — an unspoken reference to China.
The administration is cutting off grants that would help support virology laboratories in Wuhan, China, the city where the coronavirus outbreak began, and is looking into scientific collaborations undertaken there by the University of Texas.
Senior aides, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have asked intelligence agencies to continue looking for any evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that the pandemic might be the result of an accidental lab leak, even though agency analysts have said they most likely will not find proof.
According to the Times, the open rivalry between the two nations has taken on a harder and much darker shading in the months since the new coronavirus spread from a metropolis on the Yangtze River across the globe, speeding up efforts by hardliners in both Washington and Beijing to execute a so-called decoupling of important elements of the relationship.
"The bitter information war over the virus has become a core part of the competition, but the Trump administration’s efforts to counter China have sharpened across the board.” Trump’s campaign aides and Republican lawmakers aim to amplify criticism of China partly to deflect from the administration’s own record on the pandemic, especially as the general election in November approaches, the Times said. Those in Washington advocating a more stable relationship with China, including some of Trump’s top economic advisers, warn that the administration must take care not to overreach, it said. China, the paper said, is likely to emerge from the recession caused by the pandemic faster than other nations. The United States — still reeling from the virus, with more than one million infected and nearly 66,000 dead — will probably rely on economic activity in Asia to help prop up its own economy. Part of that involves getting Beijing to comply with a trade agreement signed in January. China controls a vast supply of the masks and protective gear needed by American hospitals. And if China develops a vaccine first, it will wield a powerful card, one that will bolster its global standing and give it leverage over the health of hundreds of millions of Americans, the Times speculated. "We’ve entered an entirely new phase of U.S.-China relations, rather than the intensification of the previous one,” said Jude Blanchette, a China scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This new paradigm is defined by the proliferation of flash points, the downward spiral of hostility, the rise in zero-sum thinking, and the breakdown of mediating and mitigating institutions.” "The rising tensions are propelled by deeply nationalist administrations in both Beijing and Washington, D.C., and domestic populations that are coming to view a rupture in the bilateral relationship as inevitable or even desirable,” he added. Trump himself has vacillated in his public statements on China. In recent weeks, he has said he is "not happy” with China. But on March 27, the day after a call with President Xi Jinping of China, Trump wrote on Twitter: "Much respect!” Throughout the winter, he praised Xi’s handling of the outbreak. The administration’s tougher moves on China are partly a result of growing anger among some White House aides. Pompeo; Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser; and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, have long advocated hard policies on China. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary; Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council; and Jared Kushner, a senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law, have pushed for a more measured approach. But in late April, Kushner decided to support a tougher line out of frustration with China over the pandemic and the flow of medical supplies, according to people familiar with his thinking. Advisers to Trump are conducting a wide search for options to hold China accountable for the pandemic. One potential move being discussed is suing China for reparations, though the administration would need to find a way around an American law that follows international law in granting sovereign states immunity. Legal experts say that would be difficult, and China has already denounced the idea. The president has said his administration is doing an "investigation” into China. Advisers say the inquiry involves intelligence agencies, tasked to learn how the virus originated, and the Justice Department. "Along with lost opportunities to fight the pandemic, climate change and other transnational threats, U.S. efforts to punish China could backfire badly,” said Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor of government at Cornell University. "Weakening sovereign immunity to sue China could boomerang back.” Trump’s announcement on electrical equipment on Friday appeared to be another attempt to constrain China. He declared a national emergency and ordered the energy secretary to ban the import of foreign equipment for power plants and transmission systems, arenas where China is becoming increasingly active around the world. While Russia is considered a major threat to the power grid — the United States has long complained about Russian-made code that could sabotage the system, and has implanted code of its own in Russia’s own grid — the risk from China comes from its growing role in supplying components, the Times said. Last month, several agencies asked the Federal Communications Commission to ban China Telecom Americas from domestic networks. That overlaps with a global campaign by the administration to undermine efforts by Chinese companies, notably Huawei, to develop next-generation 5G communications networks. "Taken together, the moves in the power and telecommunications industries amount to the most far-reaching by any administration to strip Chinese equipment and services out of critical American infrastructure,” the Times said.
The administration is cutting off grants that would help support virology laboratories in Wuhan, China, the city where the coronavirus outbreak began, and is looking into scientific collaborations undertaken there by the University of Texas.
Senior aides, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have asked intelligence agencies to continue looking for any evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that the pandemic might be the result of an accidental lab leak, even though agency analysts have said they most likely will not find proof.
According to the Times, the open rivalry between the two nations has taken on a harder and much darker shading in the months since the new coronavirus spread from a metropolis on the Yangtze River across the globe, speeding up efforts by hardliners in both Washington and Beijing to execute a so-called decoupling of important elements of the relationship.
"The bitter information war over the virus has become a core part of the competition, but the Trump administration’s efforts to counter China have sharpened across the board.” Trump’s campaign aides and Republican lawmakers aim to amplify criticism of China partly to deflect from the administration’s own record on the pandemic, especially as the general election in November approaches, the Times said. Those in Washington advocating a more stable relationship with China, including some of Trump’s top economic advisers, warn that the administration must take care not to overreach, it said. China, the paper said, is likely to emerge from the recession caused by the pandemic faster than other nations. The United States — still reeling from the virus, with more than one million infected and nearly 66,000 dead — will probably rely on economic activity in Asia to help prop up its own economy. Part of that involves getting Beijing to comply with a trade agreement signed in January. China controls a vast supply of the masks and protective gear needed by American hospitals. And if China develops a vaccine first, it will wield a powerful card, one that will bolster its global standing and give it leverage over the health of hundreds of millions of Americans, the Times speculated. "We’ve entered an entirely new phase of U.S.-China relations, rather than the intensification of the previous one,” said Jude Blanchette, a China scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "This new paradigm is defined by the proliferation of flash points, the downward spiral of hostility, the rise in zero-sum thinking, and the breakdown of mediating and mitigating institutions.” "The rising tensions are propelled by deeply nationalist administrations in both Beijing and Washington, D.C., and domestic populations that are coming to view a rupture in the bilateral relationship as inevitable or even desirable,” he added. Trump himself has vacillated in his public statements on China. In recent weeks, he has said he is "not happy” with China. But on March 27, the day after a call with President Xi Jinping of China, Trump wrote on Twitter: "Much respect!” Throughout the winter, he praised Xi’s handling of the outbreak. The administration’s tougher moves on China are partly a result of growing anger among some White House aides. Pompeo; Matthew Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser; and Peter Navarro, a trade adviser, have long advocated hard policies on China. Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary; Larry Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council; and Jared Kushner, a senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law, have pushed for a more measured approach. But in late April, Kushner decided to support a tougher line out of frustration with China over the pandemic and the flow of medical supplies, according to people familiar with his thinking. Advisers to Trump are conducting a wide search for options to hold China accountable for the pandemic. One potential move being discussed is suing China for reparations, though the administration would need to find a way around an American law that follows international law in granting sovereign states immunity. Legal experts say that would be difficult, and China has already denounced the idea. The president has said his administration is doing an "investigation” into China. Advisers say the inquiry involves intelligence agencies, tasked to learn how the virus originated, and the Justice Department. "Along with lost opportunities to fight the pandemic, climate change and other transnational threats, U.S. efforts to punish China could backfire badly,” said Jessica Chen Weiss, a professor of government at Cornell University. "Weakening sovereign immunity to sue China could boomerang back.” Trump’s announcement on electrical equipment on Friday appeared to be another attempt to constrain China. He declared a national emergency and ordered the energy secretary to ban the import of foreign equipment for power plants and transmission systems, arenas where China is becoming increasingly active around the world. While Russia is considered a major threat to the power grid — the United States has long complained about Russian-made code that could sabotage the system, and has implanted code of its own in Russia’s own grid — the risk from China comes from its growing role in supplying components, the Times said. Last month, several agencies asked the Federal Communications Commission to ban China Telecom Americas from domestic networks. That overlaps with a global campaign by the administration to undermine efforts by Chinese companies, notably Huawei, to develop next-generation 5G communications networks. "Taken together, the moves in the power and telecommunications industries amount to the most far-reaching by any administration to strip Chinese equipment and services out of critical American infrastructure,” the Times said.
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