It’s not just the US resetting its relationship with China – and that’s bad for everyone

As east and west separate, China will build up separate standards and technology will become the weapon in a new cold war, writes Hamish McRae

Businesses around the world will still buy stuff from China, but they won’t rely fundamentally on Chinese exports if they can possibly avoid doing so (Getty)

The reset of China’s relationship with America continues apace – but not just with America, with the rest of the world too. Right now it is being driven by Donald Trump, but it will continue long after he has left the White House.

His latest attack, that China could face consequences if it were knowingly responsible for the outbreak, has been dismissed by his opponents as electoral posturing – and it is. But if you look at this from a long-term global perspective, rather than a short-term electoral one, what he said was a statement of the obvious: “If it was a mistake, a mistake is a mistake. But if they were knowingly responsible, yeah, I mean, then sure there should be consequences.”

Indeed, there will be consequences – even if it was a mistake.