(CNN)Amid an Olympic gold rush and a worsening pandemic, something else is happening that may ultimately do far more to shape the world: Already bitter relations between the United States and China are turning incredibly toxic.
US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman got quite the earful from Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng when she arrived in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. This followed tension that erupted in public in the first formal talks between China and the Biden administration in Alaska in March.
Xie, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, accused the US on Monday of wanting to reignite its own “sense of national purpose” by orchestrating a “whole-of-government and whole-of-society” campaign to demonize China.
“The US seems to be demanding cooperation when it wants something from China; decoupling, cutting off supplies, blockading or sanctioning China when it believes it has advantage; and resorting to conflict and confrontation at all costs,” said Xie, according to the statement.
Dressing down a visiting US dignitary is good domestic politics and fits with President Xi Jinping’s ultranationalist strategy. And the brutal tone is in keeping with a sharp slump in the world’s most critical diplomatic relationship early in the term of a new US President who has taken a tough line.
The recriminations come after the US and a broad coalition of allies recently accused China of cyber hacking, slammed the crackdown in Hong Kong and repression of Uyghur Muslim minorities, and criticized Chinese military pressure on Taiwan. Soon, a flotilla led by a new British aircraft carrier that includes US vessels will sail through the South China Sea, where Beijing makes vast and disputed territorial claims. Given the colonial overtones, the voyage is almost certain to flare tempers anew.
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