US Secretary of State Pomeo appears to be fomenting a new Cold War with China

 (July 31) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in comments before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the "tide is turning' in favor of the US and against China. He says that he has seen more international support for US policies on China in recent days.

US seems determined to start a new Cold War with China

Pompeo has almost daily unleashed diatribes against China. He has called for a global alliance against what he calls Chinese "tyranny'. His comments today indicate he feels he is getting some response to his interest in a new Cold War against China.

Pompeo said:"We see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for what it is: the central threat of our times."

US dismayed more countries are not joining with the US against China

Pompeo was particularly annoyed that more nations were not taking a hard line on China on the Hong Kong security law. He declared China the "central threat of our time". It is not clear how exactly China can be such a threat, Perhaps China is a threat to US economic dominance.

US tries to persuade countries not to adopt Huawei 5g technology

The US not only itself is carrying out a trade war with China but is trying to persuade other countries not to invest in Chinese technology such as that of Huawei. Many countries see little benefit to them in joining the US in a trade war against China and many may resent US attempts to stop them from investing in Huawei's 5g technology.

Huawei sold most smart phones globally in the second quarter

Research firm Canalys reports that Hawei shipped 55.8 million devices in the second quarter of 2020 with Samsung in second place. This is in spite of US actions that have made the phones somewhat less competitive outside China: "The restrictions mean Huawei phones now face a distinct disadvantage outside China because they can only run a stripped-down open source version of Google's Android operating system and don't come with the U.S. search giant's apps like Chrome, YouTube, and Google Maps. Users also have to download apps through Huawei’s own app store, not the Google Play store."

The US could very well end up losing the most in its trade war against China. Many countries even allies could resent US attempts to persuade them to abandon what could be beneficial trade relations with China. The US has closed the Chinese consulate in China prompting China to also close a US embassy in a Chinese city. Instead of expanding trade relationships between the two countries that could benefit both, the US is following what can only be a lose lose policy of cutting off such relations.

Previously published in the Digital Journal