US-China ties at 40: Competition likely in all spheres

IN January 1979, the then 74-year-old Deng Xiaoping, survivor of repeated political purges to become China's leader after the death of Mao Zedong, met in Beijing with American journalists to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States. As the Wall Street Journal's reporter, I asked a question on trade: Was China interested in purchasing weapons from the United States? Deng's feisty answer was yes, but he didn't know if Washington would be willing to sell arms to Beijing.

At that time, with China beginning to open up, everything seemed possible. Ever since the 1972 visit to China by then US president Richard Nixon, the two countries had been strategising regarding their common enemy, the Soviet Union. Selling weapons to China was a distinct possibility in those heady days, even though it could pose a grave threat to Taiwan.

But there is little celebrating this year with the two countries in the midst of a trade war.