LOOMING CON

AT A TIME WHEN MOST OF THE WORLD remains focussed on dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the United States and China are engaged in a quarrel over a host of issues that threatens to get out of control and enmesh the international community. The Donald Trump administration’s inability to contain the uncontrolled spread of the pandemic in the U.S. has prompted the targeting of China. With President Trump facing an uphill task in the 2020 presidential election, his strategists seem to have calculated that his only route to victory is blaming China for the pandemic and the economic ills that have befallen the country in the last four years. In a racist rant in a recent statement, Trump

The U.S. and China seem to be moving inexorably towards a serious conflict, and it can be detrimental to India’s national interests in the long run if it gets caught in the middle.

accused the Chinese government “of concealing the virus and unleashing it upon the world”, without, as usual, providing any evidence. The U.S. and China have been embroiled in trade disputes for quite some time.

The introduction of new national security laws by the Chinese government in Hong Kong, after protesters there made the important global financial hub virtually ungovernable, has led to the U.S. and the United Kingdom imposing more sanctions on China. Trump ordered an end to the preferential trade status enjoyed by Hong Kong. The “Hong Kong Autonomy Act”, unanimously passed by the U.S. Congress in early July, has given approval for the sanctioning of senior Hong