US campaign against China is heating up on all fronts

NOTHING, it seems, is being overlooked in America's trade and strategic confrontation with China. So last week, the Trump administration decided to pull out of the Universal Postal Union - a UN agency that sets the rules for international postal exchange such as the fees that a country can charge for delivering shipments from foreign carriers.

Washington says favourable rates for developing countries have let members such as China flood the US with goods, putting US companies at a disadvantage. Worse, the US taxpayer subsidises China's goods delivered to American addresses to the tune of US$300 million a year.

Other fronts in this campaign are also heating up. Earlier this month, there was a near collision at Gaven Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands between a US destroyer and a Chinese guided missile warship. That was followed up by a US B-52 long-range bomber flight over the East China Sea and the South China Sea that Beijing described as "provocative". And there is more to come: the US plans to carry out a show of force in the South China Sea involving warships, aircraft and troops next month. The exercise is to demonstrate that the Pentagon is prepared to deter and counter anything Beijing cares to put in America's way.