Severing economic ties at whose expense? Christians in China? Poor people in the US? It’s easy to claim moral superiority if someone else has to foot the bill.

What is even more dangerous is to link religion freedom to the ongoing trade war. It makes good people who are fighting for a just cause look like pawns of the US.

You may have underestimated the value of engagement. The spread of Christianity in China could not happen without the economic ties with China in the past forty years.