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A28 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 25 July 2020
Always rocky, China-U.S. relations appear at a turning point

By KEN MORITSUGU World War II era.
Associated Press Election-year politics in
BEIJING (AP) — Four de- the U.S. are fanning the
cades after the U.S. estab- flames, as President Don-
lished diplomatic ties with ald Trump appears to be
Communist China, the re- using friction with China to
lationship between the two drum up support among
may have reached a turn- his base. Whether or not he
ing point. is reelected in November,
Tensions have reached underlying differences will
new heights on what has remain.
always been a rocky road, "We are looking at a struc-
as the ambitions of a ris- tural change in the rela-
ing superpower increas- tionship, which will contin-
ingly clash with those of ue even if Trump does not
the established one. China get a second term," said
ordered the closing of the Steve Tsang, director of the
U.S. Consulate in the south- China Institute at London's
western city of Chengdu School of Oriental and Afri-
on Friday, in rapid retali- can Studies.
ation for the closing of its Militarily, American and
consulate in Houston. Chinese warships often
Two weeks ago, Chinese jockey for position in the
Foreign Minister Wang Yi In this Sept. 16, 2018, file photo, American flags are displayed together with Chinese flags on top South China Sea. Economi-
asked aloud if relations of a trishaw in Beijing. cally, the U.S. is leaning on
could stay on track. On Associated Press its allies to exclude Chinese
Thursday, U.S. Secretary telecom leader Huawei
of State Mike Pompeo decades recognized Tai- United States. tion sent an aircraft carrier from their mobile networks,
delivered an answer: The wan as the government Setting aside political differ- through the Taiwan Strait in raising the specter of cy-
time has come to change of China after Chiang fled ences, the U.S. and China 1996 after China fired mis- bersecurity. On human
course. there when he lost control promoted economic, so- siles toward the island. rights, the U.S. is imposing
"The old paradigm of blind of the mainland in 1949. cial and cultural ties that In 2001, a Chinese fighter sanctions over Chinese
engagement with China Relations between Wash- were briefly interrupted a jet and a U.S. Navy surveil- policies in Hong Kong, Tibet
simply won't get it done," ington and the Communist decade later by China's lance plane collided over and Xinjiang,
he said in a speech at the government in Beijing be- military crackdown on the the South China Sea, a Tougher U.S. views on Chi-
Richard Nixon Presidential gan to thaw in the 1970s, as 1989 pro-democracy dem- vital shipping lane in the na have now been "baked
Library in Southern Califor- China's ties with the Soviet onstrations in Beijing's Ti- Asia-Pacific region. China into the system," Tsang said.
nia. "We must not continue Union deteriorated and ananmen Square. detained the U.S. crew for Pompeo's speech was the
it. We must not return to it." leader Mao Zedong sought Economic links grew expo- days after its plane made latest in a series of sharp
It was Nixon's visit to China a counterweight to its more nentially in the following an emergency landing at criticisms aimed at China
in 1972, the first by an Amer- powerful neighbor. years, with heavy invest- a Chinese base. by Cabinet-level U.S. of-
ican president since the A new leader, Deng Xiaop- ment by U.S. businesses in As China has grown into ficials, including Defense
Communists took power in ing, visited the U.S. in 1979 China and an accompa- the world's second-largest Secretary Mark Esper and
1949, that upended a Cold after the establishment nying Chinese trade surplus economy, behind only Attorney General Bill Barr.
War paradigm and paved of diplomatic ties, smiling that has reached $350 bil- the U.S., it is increasingly Although Trump earlier
the way for the normaliza- in photos as he tried on a lion annually. viewed as a competitor, played up what he called
tion of relations in 1979. cowboy hat in Texas. The The relationship was punc- both economically and a warm relationship with
The United States had been Houston consulate that is tuated by bouts of ten- militarily, and a potential Chinese leader Xi Jinping,
a close ally of then-Chinese being shut opened later sion. The U.S. continues to challenger to the Western- communication between
leader Chiang Kai-shek in the same year. support Taiwan militarily, led democratic model that the sides has fallen to new
World War II and for three It was China's first in the and the Clinton administra- has dominated the post- lows.q

U.S. military chief visits Israel amid tensions with Iran

JERUSALEM (AP) — The top ter an air raid on the Syr- tier damaged a building over Syria. in the civil war.
U.S. general made an un- ian capital, Damascus, and a vehicle in the Golan Israel has long viewed Iran Israeli Defense Minister
announced visit to Israel suspected to have been Heights, which Israel seized as its main regional threat Benny Gantz said that
on Friday to discuss "re- carried out by Israel, killed from Syria in 1967 and later because of its nuclear pro- in his talks with Milley, he
gional security challenges" five foreign fighters, includ- annexed. The military de- gram — which Tehran in- emphasized "the need to
at a time of heightened ing a member of the Iran- clined to provide further sists is for purely peaceful continue the pressure on
tensions with Iran and its al- backed Hezbollah. details. purposes — as well as Iran's Iran and its proxies."
lies across the Middle East. The Lebanese militant Recent weeks have also military presence in neigh- The Israeli military "is pre-
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the group has vowed to retali- seen a series of mysterious boring Syria and its support pared and ready for any
Joint Chiefs chairman, met ate for the killing of its fight- explosions in Iran, including for armed groups like Hez- scenario and any threat,
with senior Israeli military ers in Syria, and in recent a blast at what analysts say bollah. and I do not suggest our
and intelligence leaders at days Israel has sent infantry was a nuclear centrifuge Israel has carried out enemies to test us.
an air base in southern Is- reinforcements to its north- production facility. scores of airstrikes in re- We have no interest in es-
rael and held a video con- ern border with Lebanon. Milley's visit also came cent years targeting Iran's calation, but we will do all
ference with Prime Minister Earlier Friday, the Israeli mil- hours after a U.S. fighter military presence in Syria, that is necessary to pro-
Benjamin Netanyahu. itary said an explosion on jet passed near an Iranian where Tehran is a close ally tect Israeli citizens," Gantz
The visit came days af- the Syrian side of the fron- passenger plane as it flew of President Bashar Assad said.q