Washington has become frothy with talk of a new cold war with China as competition intensifies between the two countries’ ideological systems: liberal democracy vs. authoritarian statism. As evidence of this new reality, commentators and political leaders point to Beijing’s increased aggressiveness at home and abroad—recently over the coronavirus outbreak, government backing of telecom giant Huawei, new national security legislation for Hong Kong, and repression of Uighurs. Specific repugnant actions and confrontational policies, so the logic goes, underscore the true nature of the Chinese regime.
