Just before Xi Jinping visited the US last month, President Barack Obama warned that he was prepared to sanction China over cyber crime.
His stern message appears in stark contrast to the stance in the UK ahead of the Chinese leader’s visit this week, which saw officials haggle over whether the Sino-British relationship had entered a “golden decade” or a “golden era”.
The US and UK both lined up suitable pomp for Chinese leader. Mr Xi was feted with a 21-gun salute at the White House and a state banquet. In Britain, he will dine at Buckingham Palace and address parliament. But China experts in Washington say that in almost every other way, the two Atlantic allies have diverged in the way they treat China.