Decoupling, derisking, China + 1. All Beijing wants is a less hostile, more predictable US

Even the idea of reducing US economic linkages with China, which has gained much momentum in recent years, was being gradually trimmed down and reframed by high-level US pronouncements over the past year. Since June 2023, there has been a determined outreach to China with a flurry of US cabinet minister visits to Beijing — starting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, treasury secretary Janet Yellen, climate envoy John Kerry, and commerce secretary Gina Raimondo. The Pentagon even tried a defence ministers meeting, which was ironically stymied by the US' own sanctions against the Chinese minister. Then, in October 2023,…