The Trump administration’s China policy may have drawn criticism from pockets of the political establishment for the drastic choice of method – a bilateral trade war. But its underlying sentiment against China has echoed back in a chorus of bipartisan agreement.
The latest development is Senate passage Wednesday of a bill that, if enacted, could stop some Chinese firms’ shares from trading on US stock exchanges. Non-US companies would be required to observe US audit standards and financial regulations. Publicly traded corporations would have to disclose foreign ownership or control.
The US Department of Commerce had decided just a few days earlier to require semiconductor manufacturers to obtain government approval before selling computer chips to Huawei – an example of the Trump administration’s determination to stop China’s rise to technological dominance.
That move followed a similar pattern of recent administrative actions. The US Labor Department prohibited the federal pension fund from investing in Chinese companies. The Federal Communications Commission barred Huawei and ZTE from access to the US market.
Over the past four years anti-China sentiment in both parties, Democratic and Republican, has grown more vocal and increasingly more confrontational. The Republicans have taken the lead in painting China as the primary threat to America’s way of life. The Democrats, fearful of losing elections, have joined the choir.
Now China hawks have used the opportunity presented by Covid-19 to attack the Chinese government’s image and ramp up the general discontent with China that has now become a core component of American political discourse. SOURCE: ASIA Times
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