This from The Economist, not something we were unaware of, this ain't really about trade.
ON JANUARY 15th, after three years of a bitter trade war, America and China a re due to sign a "phase one deal that trims tariffs and obliges China to buy more from American farmers.
- Don't be fooled.
- This modest accord cannot disguise how the world's most important relationship is at its most perilous juncture since before Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong re-established links five decades ago.
- The threat to the West from China's high-tech authoritarianism has become all too clear. Everything from its pioneering artificial-intelligence firms to its gulags in Xin-jiang spread alarm across the world.