Last summer, Trump promised Chinese President Xi Jinping that he'd keep quiet on anti-democratic moves in the territory while they were negotiating a trade deal, though he did sign a new sanctions law potentially targeting Chinese and Hong Kong officials. In November, Trump said he stood with democracy protesters in Hong Kong -- but "I'm also standing with President Xi, he's a friend of mine."
Things are different now that Trump has identified China as a scapegoat for a pandemic that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans. "It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't," he tweeted last week. Leaning into the anti-China sentiment, his administration has called the new controversial security law "disastrous," and as Hong Kongers hit the streets in protest, Trump may be tiptoeing toward a break with Xi.
