Beijing was asking for it. On Friday a central bank official invited the US to refrain from “politicising” China's currency policy. On Sunday, closing the annual meeting of lawmakers, Premier Wen did little else, with a series of pointed allusions to the “Three Ts” dominating the two nations' relationship: Taiwan, Tibet and the trade surplus. Still, the US retaliation – 130 Congressmen urging President Obama to label China a currency manipulator, for the first time in 16 years – is a rush of blood to the head. Signatories must realise that the more pressure you put on China to do anything, the less likely it is to do it.
北京方面在自找麻煩。上周五，一名央行官員請美國不要將中國的匯率政策“政治化”。上周日，在全國人大年會的閉幕會上，中國總理溫家寶卻不言其他，尖銳地提到主導中美關系的三個以T字開頭的問題：臺灣、西藏、貿易盈余。不過，美方的反彈舉動——130名國會議員聯名敦促奧巴馬總統將中國列為匯率操縱國（這將是16年來的首次）——似乎有點意氣用事。這些議員必須認識到，不管是什么事，你對中國施加的壓力越大，中國就越不可能照辦。