China's expulsion of American journalists from three United States newspapers amid a pandemic is the latest salvo in a rapidly escalating tit for tat between the world's two largest economies, raising the question of whether the relationship is near breaking point.

The uneasy truce struck during the signing of a partial trade deal in mid-January has in recent weeks given way to increasingly bad-tempered overtures that yesterday resulted in at least 13 journalists ejected from China and consequences that extend to Hong Kong.