Biden should respond with his own China strategy

HISTORIANS who study the US slide into the military quagmire of the Vietnam War in the second half of the 20th century point out that two Democratic presidents - John F Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson - had played leading roles in getting Americans involved in that long and costly intervention in South-east Asia.

And the notion of Democrats playing the role of staunch military hawks during the Cold War, some historians would add, was immersed in irony. After all, Republican politicians were the ones beating the anti-communist drums at the time while liberal internationalist Democrats were more likely to be promoting international cooperation and peaceful resolutions of conflicts.

But that Cold War reality in which Democrats were perceived as military doves posed a political challenge to them: they needed to convince Americans they were as tough as the Republicans or risk being perceived as "soft" in dealing with the international communist threat.