New cold war between U.S. and China 
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China ordered the United States to close its consulate in the city of Chengdu, responding to a U.S. demand that China close its Houston consulate, ratcheting up tension between the two superpowers
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2017 
Jan 2017: U.S. President Donald Trump vows to challenge China’s assertions of sovereignty over South China Sea
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2018
Jan 2018: Trump imposes punitive tariffs on imports from China. After two-year trade war, truce is declared in January 2020 with signing of Phase 1 trade deal

Aug: President Trump signs bill banning government use of China’s
Huawei Technologies

Dec: Meng Wanzhou – chief executive of Huawei – is detained in Canada on extradition warrant to U.S.
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2019 
Oct 2019: U.S. imposes visa ban on Chinese officials, including senior members of Communist Party, over human rights abuses against minority Muslim Uighurs in country’s western Xinjiang region
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2020
Jan 2020: First case of Covid-19 confirmed in U.S. President accuses
Beijing of spreading coronavirus – which he refers to as China virus or Kung Flu

May 2020: Washington introduces rules to cancel visas of thousands of Chinese graduate students who have links to China’s military

Jun: U.S. slashes number of Chinese journalists allowed to work in U.S. – China retaliates by expelling American correspondents

Jul: Trump signs executive order to end Hong Kong’s preferential trading status with U.S.

Jul: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns that China’s claims in South China Sea could potentially lead to military confrontations with U.S. 

Jul 23: Following closure of China’s Houston consulate, Pompeo calls for “more creative and assertive ways” to press Chinese Communist Party to change its methods, calling it “the mission of our time”
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Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, Stratfor
Pictures: Associated Press © GRAPHIC NEWS