Coronavirus Casts Deep Chill Over U.S.-China Relations

Relations between the US and China, strained for years, have deteriorated at a rapid clip in recent months, leaving the two nations with fewer shared interests and a growing list of conflicts. The Trump administration has moved to involve much of the US government in a campaign that includes investigations, prosecutions and export restrictions. Nearly every cabinet and cabinet-level official either has adopted adversarial positions or jettisoned past cooperative programs with Beijing, an analysis of their policies showed. Independent agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission also took action. The FCC has begun substantially curtailing Chinese access to US telecommunications infrastructure. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has posted to Twitter articles about China actions he dislikes, tagging each with a sarcastic “You don’t say.” He said that one of his Twitter followers is the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr. Zhao, but “I don’t follow him back because I don’t want him sliding into my direct messages.”