US-Sino relations: ‘Trade war, cold war, maybe real war?’

For a brief moment screams and panic punctuated the carnival atmosphere outside the shuttered US consulate in Chengdu. With hundreds of police and military surrounding the diplomatic mission, and the area thronged with curious locals on a steamy Friday evening, loud cracks and explosive pops suddenly ripped through the street. Some people dived to the ground. Others ran, shrieking. Special forces toting machine guns swooped from the shadows into the middle of the street. Gunpowder wafted through the humid air. “It’s only firecrackers,” one man screamed. There was an audible sigh of collective relief, mixed with laughter, followed by cheers, yelps and applause. The evidence lay smouldering in...