CHINA/GOP/MIKE PENCE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “U.S. Vice President Mike Pence intensified Washington’s pressure campaign against Beijing on Thursday [10-4-18] by accusing China of ‘malign’ efforts to undermine President Donald Trump ahead of next month’s congressional elections and reckless military actions in the South China Sea. In what was billed as a major policy address, Pence sought to build on Trump’s speech at the United Nations last week in which he accused China of trying to interfere in the vote that will determine whether his Republican Party will keep control of Congress. Neither Trump nor Pence provided hard evidence of meddling by China, which last week rejected the president’s allegation. Pence’s speech at Washington’s Hudson Institute marked a sharpened U.S. approach towards China going beyond the bitter trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. It highlighted disputes such as cyber attacks, Taiwan, freedom of the seas and human rights.”
–Reuters, “Pence Accuses China of ‘Malign’ Campaign to Undermine Trump,” The New York Times online, October 4, 2018