US President Donald Trump’s provocative rhetoric raises questions about how far he is willing to go in his confrontation with China. While countries and businesses are reluctant to pick sides, the spectre of a US-China military conflict might force them to.

For a coronavirus with a lower fatality rate than peak flu season in the US, millions are quarantined, borders are closed, flights are cut, and economic and political costs are mounting. With human rights swept aside and public health politicised, are we creating more problems than we hope to solve?

The US’ targeting of Huawei is rooted in long-standing fears that China might challenge the idea of civilisational superiority on which the West constructs itself. Focusing on Chinese surveillance effaces the threat posed by Western tech giants.

The leaders of China’s Communist Party learned from both Tiananmen and the fall of the Soviet Union not to give in. The mainland Chinese public also appears to have little sympathy for Hongkongers, which will free Beijing’s hand to act decisively.

China’s young people, once at the forefront of politics, are increasingly disenfranchised, and part of a worrying generational gap as a result of the nation’s unprecedented cultural and economic development.

With the unveiling of the Indo-Pacific Economic Vision, the apparent resolution of the trade dispute with the EU and the cosying up with Russia, it is now clear that the US president has been working towards a strategy of turning other countries against Beijing.