In recent days, the White House has been piling up one anti-China initiative after another in areas such as finance, technology and national security. These include the start of the process to delist Chinese companies from the US stock market, planning to delist two of the most popular Chinese apps – WeChat and TikTok -, sanctioning Hong Kong chief Carrie Lam, sending a cabinet official to Taiwan and closing the Chinese consulate in Houston.
Some of the US actions were in response to moves by China, including a draconian new national security law for Hong Kong, repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, and continuing US complaints about cyber theft or forced technology transfer. China does not allow US social media companies to operate freely in its market.
Although the US counterintelligence suspects that China would rather have Joe Biden and the Democrats in the White House than Trump and the Republicans, advisors to Biden such as Evan Medeiros told the Wall Street Journal that the confrontation would continue even with Biden as president. David Shambaugh, an expert on China at George Washington University, spoke unequivocally of a new Cold War.
China has claimed that after the outbreak of the coronavirus an economic recovery of the state has already begun, much to the distrust of analysts. However, economists have claimed that the figures are unreliable, with some claiming that the economic contraction in China is far greater than reported. According to analysts from Capital Economics, China’s economy contracted by 10 percent in the first three months of the year.
Market observers believe that China is hoarding oil and steel; this may also be part of increased military preparations.
