TOKYO/NEW YORK -- Pandemic-driven acrimony between China and the U.S. has grown into a "new Cold War," according to a book-length annual report released Friday by Japan's only national think tank covering security.
COVID-19 is blamed in the 25th edition of the East Asian Strategic Review from the National Institute for Defense Studies. The disease led to economic stagnation in China, fueling public dissatisfaction with President Xi Jinping's leadership, it says, adding: "In response, the Xi administration sought to overcome this by restarting economic activities and tightening its control over society."
