Even though the countries are in a state of “non-war”, US-China tensions will not go away, says Chinese scholar Deng Qingbo. The US can only be expected to continue using China as a bogeyman even after the presidential election. While he is confident that China will be able to handle containment measures thrown at it deftly, he warns that it needs to guard against being increasingly withdrawn from the world as it nurses its bruises from its battles with the US. Failing to do so would only mean the US has succeeded in thwarting its goal of greater reform and opening up.

The retrial and reinstatement of a death sentence meted out to crime boss Sun Xiaoguo is not only a win for those championing legal reform, but also those looking to strengthen China’s business environment. This landmark case exposes corruption ills and eradicates bad hats in one fell swoop.

Deng Qingbo sees great similarities between the trade-deficit-induced Opium Wars and the current China-US trade war, right down to a literal opioid — fentanyl, often discussed in the trade talks — and a figurative one, the irresistible drug that politicians and others have made out of demonising China as they ride a wave of populist sentiment. Amidst the current smoke and mirrors, he does not rule out the possibility that tensions between China and the US could tip over into war.