US may seek China’s help to ease Mideast tensions

China’s political relationship with the US is fractured because of bitterness over the trade war, tensions over the South China Sea, and what China says is US interference in human rights issues. (PA)

The US trade war with China and geopolitics in the Middle East may not seem linked, but the US presidential election due on 3 November puts mounting pressure on the White House to deliver the major foreign policy success President Donald Trump has boasted about but so far failed to achieve.

Although the White House has heralded the ‘phase one’ deal between Washington and Beijing – signed on 15 January – as a major breakthrough, it is difficult to see it as a victory for the...