at a time when its nuclear promises are falling short of american demands could bring a new round of threats that go beyond trade to global securitybut at the apec conference in port moresby the capital of papua new guinea the tensions centered on economicsfor years american foreign policy has sought to balance the economic benefits of cooperating with china with the risks of treating the country as an adversarynow the scales have tippedfrom mr trumps tweets to defense position papers and a major speech by mr pence on oct 4 the united states has made clear that it sees china as a strategic threatits a new level of cold war rhetoric said hugh white a prominent regional analyst at the australian national universityeconomic cooperation he said is being sidelinedthe trump administration for the first time since nixon in 1972 has sought to distance america from chinas economic opportunities mr white said thats a huge shiftmr pence has played an especially prominent role in the confrontationsign up for damien caves australia letter to get news conversation starters and local recommendations in your inbox each weekappearing in mr trumps place at apec he doubled down on recent criticism of chinas geopolitical strategies and attacked the countrys one belt one road initiative an infrastructure plan financed by china that covers some 70 countrieshe urged asian nations to work with the united states if they do he said they will not be saddled with debt a problem some countries are facing as a result of their partnerships with beijingmr xi who spoke before mr pence insisted that such criticism was misguided chinas infrastructure plan he said is inclusive and beneficialit will not close a door and create a small circle mr xi said it is not the socalled trap as some people say it is the sunshine avenue where china shares opportunities with the world to seek common developmentexperts said the two countries positions have become more entrenchedit boils down to mutual intransigence between the us and china said rory medcalf head of the national security college at the australian national universityjonathan pryke a pacific rim expert at the lowy institute agreed describing the result as raw stubbornnessearlier on sunday prime minister scott morrison of australia tried to sound upbeat i think there is a lot more progress being made here than i think is probably being acknowledged he saidhe and many other national leaders seemed eager to return to a time when the worlds strongest powers got along or at least worked together on building the world economywhat the leaders of many countries fear especially in asia is a cleavage into two campsno one wants to be forced to make a choice said mr white the analystfor now the world beyond the united states and china seems to have been given the task of maintaining calm and of trying to steer the world away from economic divisions and greater clashesby sunday night it was increasingly difficult to see the summit meeting as