In an under-noticed speech last week, US vice-president Mike Pence delivered a de facto declaration of cold war against China. As a candidate, Donald Trump complained that China was “raping” America. After months of smaller steps, his administration has now pledged to fight back hard on all fronts — and win.
Mr Pence’s big idea is that US presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama fundamentally misunderstood the China challenge. The nation they embraced as a “strategic partner” is in fact a “strategic competitor”, “rival”, indeed “adversary”. Previous administrations made a cosmic bet. They wagered that integrating China into the US-led international order would lead it to develop a normal free market economy, democracy, the rule of law guaranteeing human rights, and acceptance of its place as a “responsible stakeholder”. They lost that bet — and the Trump administration is left to deal with the consequences.
Accusing previous administrations of having ignored or even “abetted” China’s abuses, Mr Pence insisted that Team Trump will speak up, stand up, fight, and win. As Mr Trump said in August: “When I came we were heading in a certain direction that was going to allow China to be bigger than us in a very short period of time. That’s not going to happen any more.”