Rivalry between US and China enters new phase

As the push to reopen economies intensifies, world leaders face mounting pressure to successfully balance health concerns, national economies and their own political futures. That's true of US President Donald Trump as he heads into his re-election campaign this fall, but a surprise addition to this list of vulnerable world leaders is Chinese President Xi Jinping. This new reality may bring the US and China to the cusp of a cold war.

Xi was supposed to be immune from this kind of political pressure. China isn't a democracy, and Xi has spent his years in charge consolidating power at an impressive clip. Even a costly trade war with the US did little to damage his political standing at home. But the initial cover-up of the virus enabled its spread both in greater China and the wider world, provoking an unprecedented domestic and international backlash to the Chinese leadership...