The ‘Cold War’ Was Never Over: China Has Been Fighting It Covertly for Nearly Three Decades

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang answers a question during a briefing in Beijing on November 28, 2019. - China's foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador on November 28, urging Washington to refrain from applying a bill supporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement to "avoid further damage" to relations. Photo by WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

People in the Western world cheered and celebrated when communism collapsed in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1990, and then in the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War was over and the threat of a real war dissipated. It seemed that the peace and prosperity everyone had longed for had finally arrived.