HONG KONG -- As U.S. President-elect Donald Trump looks to fill his cabinet with outspoken critics of Beijing, he is confronting a potentially tougher rival: a China that has been girding for an intensifying conflict between the powers, even at greater economic cost.
Trump last week said he would nominate Republican Sen. Marco Rubio -- who has criticized China over issues such as its treatment of Uyghur Muslims and the clampdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement -- to serve as secretary of state. One day earlier, Trump said his national security adviser would be Michael Waltz, a congressman from Florida who had called on the U.S. to boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over China's handling of COVID-19 and human rights.
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