“US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin saying the US will not stand for ‘coercion and bullying’ from China... “
BS.
***We are literally trying all we can to downplay and normalize things as fast as possible.***
At the highest levels, corporate America wants trade with China (PRC) because that’s where much of our manufacturing is: Apple, Cisco, GM, HP, Dell, Tesla... almost everyone to some degree. It’s a vast market for US products as well. Additionally, the Chinese have a political footprint in the US with lobbying firms and their US based subsidiaries donating graciously to political campaigns. They have substantial media influence as well may it be through their own media which is broadcast here, US based media they pay off, or US media which is concerned being black listed in the PRC and want to stay on favorable terms.
This is a case where the senior political and corporate levels do not see eye to eye with the common man. They have to somehow sell this to the masses, or at least let them forget about it and do what “they” want silently.
Everything will be back to normal quickly. We don’t really care about tanks crushing pro-democracy students on Tienanmen square or a single party communist regime. We don’t care about religious oppression, forced abortions, questionable organ harvesting policies, censorship, the disappearance of political dissidents, torture, interment camps for a 1,000,000 Uyghurs, the occupation of Tibet, or even a de facto naval blockade around Taiwan: https://imgcdn.cna.com.tw/Eng/WebEngPhotos/WebCover/800/2022/20220803/2000x1500_483046928894.jpg
All corporate CEOs agree that China needs most favored trade status and to drop all Trump tariffs. The political elite simply follows what the big money wants.
So let me get this right.
Our DOJ goes after these FOREIGN people for a plot in a FOREIGN country, where a FOREIGN person was killed.
But when US citizens, have sex with under age US citizens, fly to an island 1/2 the distance of Haiti, on a US registered aircraft, our marvelous DOJ can’t do anything about it?
In fact, the folks sticking their peckers in the girls don’t get in trouble, only the madam recruiting the women: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislaine_Maxwell
Some folks are just to important to fail.