BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is invoking past military conflicts to prime the public for a drawn-out trade war with the U.S., even amid calls for a swift resolution from critics online and among well-connected Communist Party elites.
The nation is on a "new Long March," Xi said Monday at a monument marking the starting point of the Red Army's two-year, 12,500 km retreat from the Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War. The message was clear: The trade conflict with the U.S. could persist for a while.
