What Won’t Work With China, And What Might

Derek Scissors / March 15, 2010

The New York Times, Washington Post, and others today ran front-page stories on economic and political disagreements the U.S. has with China. The headlines mostly distract from the real issue.

China is nowhere close to a global military power but it is becoming a global economic power. It is therefore almost inevitable that the U.S. and PRC will clash more often over economic matters. The goal in managing those disputes must always be more open international markets, or the result will be that both sides lose.

The next month in particular is going to be a loud one for Sino-American economic relations. On the front end we have a press conference today by Premier Wen Jiabao, number three in the Communist Party hierarchy. Among other things, Wen repeated what are now standard Chinese accusations of American trade protectionism. (more…)