The Candidates' China Obsession

In the first Republican debate, China was mentioned by name 48 times.

Gabriel Scheinmann and David Feith wonder why candidates that almost completely agree about China policy aren’t debating the issue more:

The candidates, however, are saying surprisingly little about the subject. The first Republican primary debate all but ignored it.

A quick search of the transcript of the first Republican debate tells us something else. China was mentioned by name 48 times, and the candidates were responsible for about 40 of those. Chris Christie mentioned “the Chinese” once in the context of accusing them of “engaging in an act of war against us killing our citizens.” If this is ignoring an issue, I would hate to see what obsession looks like. So it’s just not true that the candidates “all but ignored” China during the debate, and the candidates talk about it all the time otherwise. They say “surprisingly little” about it only if you expect them to talk about nothing else.