The first round of primary elections in Iowa next week marks the real start of the 2020 US presidential election. Mr Donald Trump's extraordinary presidency makes this year's contest unusually critical, not just for America but for its friends and allies around the world, including in Asia.
It has always been true that Asia's peace and prosperity depend fundamentally on how America and China get along. But Mr Trump's first term has seen by far the most turbulent period in US-China relations since Richard Nixon met Mao Zedong in Beijing in 1972. After decades of wary but effective cooperation, the world's two most powerful countries now confront one another as declared economic and strategic rivals.
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