the wobbly floor under the uschina relationship is shaking again as chinese officials protest the us’s decision to shoot down a suspected chinese spy balloon over the weekend   though the flap over the balloon may not derail the recent rally in chinese stocks it could limit gains longerterm investors are likely to be wary about piling in as the mood in washington dc toward china continues to darken the latest events just underscore why chinese stocks were down on monday with the ishares msci china exchangetraded fund off 17 at 5163 in mid afternoon though stocks are still up nearly 12 so far this year investors have been attracted by expectations for a revival in the world’s secondlargest economy—no surprise given its fasterthan anticipated reopening following three years of harsh covid19 restrictions government measures to stabilize the property market and the easing of crackdowns on large internet companies have raised hopes as well   though the growing rivalry between the us and china has worried investors a meeting in november between chinese leader xi jinping and president joe biden eased concerns both sides stressed the need to stabilize the relationship after a multiyear downward spiral had closed diplomatic channels critical for avoiding conflict   since then the two countries had been setting up meetings between their officials including secretary of state antony blinken’s plan to sit down with officials in beijing this past weekend the us indefinitely postponed the visit saying the flight of the suspected surveillance balloon violated us sovereignty chinese officials described the craft as a civilian one designed for weatherrelated studies that flew off course   the flareup is a reminder that the uschina relationship is still under strain and that plenty of factors with the potential to boost tensions remain in play both the administration and congress are expected to release proposals aimed at restricting us investments in china house speaker kevin mccarthy plans to visit taiwan in the spring even as china has already issued warnings about such a visit to the selfruled island it claims as its own