Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, October 9th, and this is your

F.T. news briefing. The U.S. has blocked dozens of federal websites from users in Hong Kong.

Staying with that, elites in Washington, D.C. have turned hawkish on China.

That's true for both parties, and we'll talk to our DC Bureau Chief about that.

And a Silicon Valley startup has decided to disrupt whiskey. I'm Brennan Greeley and

from Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

The US has blocked access to dozens of government websites in Hong Kong.

Now, these are the sites that provide economic data like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces

the monthly employment situation report, or the Census Bureau,

which publishes retail sales.

These are numbers that move markets, which is crucial to a financial center like Hong Kong.

Access to the websites is blocked blocked but banks and traders can still

get the data using a virtual private network or a commercial terminal like Bloomberg or

ICON, but it will be slower and that can make a big difference. The Financial Times talked to one former

diplomat who said that the policy goal is likely part of the Trump administration's

wider push to treat the territory just like mainland China.

Staying on that subject, the F.T has been producing a series of reads on the new Cold War between the U. China. This week, Dimitri Sevastopolo,

our DC Bureau Chief, wrote about how elites in Washington

in both parties have turned hawkish on China.

The pandemic has made it difficult,

particularly for Donald Trump to come up with the right rhetoric.

Mark Filipinos spoke to Dimitri earlier this week. Here's their conversation.

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