US and China are on a collision course that could risk conflict

After the May G7 summit in Hiroshima, the US president, Joe Biden, claimed that he expected a "thaw" in relations with China. Yet, despite some recent official bilateral meetings - with the US secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, expressing hopes for a visit to China soon - relations remain icy. In fact, far from thawing, the new cold war is getting colder, and the G7 summit itself magnified Chinese concerns about the US pursuing a strategy of "comprehensive containment, encirclement and suppression". Unlike previous gatherings, when G7 leaders offered mostly talk and little action, this summit turned out to…