Krugman on China as Economic Partner and Economic Competitor

China may be the best eaxmple of a frenemy that the US has. Dealing with it effectively requires a sort of cautious strength. Krugman, as usual, nails the essential points.

Major economic powers, realizing that they have an important stake in the international system, are normally very hesitant about resorting to economic warfare, even in the face of severe provocation — witness the way U.S. policy makers have agonized and temporized over what to do about China’s grossly protectionist exchange-rate policy. China, however, showed no hesitation at all about using its trade muscle to get its way in a political dispute, in clear — if denied — violation of international trade law.