Why Donald Trump is the weakest link on the ideological front in the US’ cold war with China

The US’ strength is derived from the way its leaders have stood up to authoritarian regimes at key junctures. The US president, who professes to admire leaders of countries who do not share America’s values, would do well to remember this

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US President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2017. US-China relations have deteriorated since then, but Trump continues to refer to Xi as a “friend”. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:00am, 26 Nov 2019Updated: 4:20am, 26 Nov 2019

The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and the US Congress’ 150-odd other pieces of China-related legislation underscore elder statesman Henry Kissinger’s recent assertion that the US and China are “in the foothills” of a new cold war. Perhaps we’re even further up, above the tree line.

As recriminations beget more recriminations and new fronts in the ideological battle seem to open every week, Washington’s wannabe cold warriors need to pause and reassess.

The non-stop news around the advance of the Hong Kong act and the stand-off at Polytechnic University last week obscured new data released by the Institute of International Education and the State Department showing that the number of mainland Chinese students and academics in the US has remained largely stable.

This is not what reporters covering the new numbers were expecting, given the political context.

Xi Jinping can take comfort in the fact that Trump has more respect for him than he does for the values that America has defended for the past century

It has been nearly two years since Federal Bureau of Investigations director Christopher Wray accused Beijing of increasing its use of “non-traditional collectors” – such as professors, scientists and students – for its intelligence gathering.

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