MonitorDebate stance on China shows cynicism of two US candidates
Both candidates can talk tough for the benefit of the voters but they know there is little profit in carrying out the threats when in office
It is hard to know which was more hurtful to the "feelings of the Chinese people": that both candidates in yesterday's US presidential debate took such a combative stance towards China, or that they spent so little time doing it.
Barack Obama called China "an adversary" and boasted he had launched more trade complaints against Beijing in four years than George Bush's administration did in eight.
And he confirmed what many Chinese business people have long believed; that the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement being pursued by the US is aimed primarily at exerting pressure on Beijing, which has been excluded from the talks.
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, accused Beijing of waging a silent trade war against the US and of stealing American jobs.
"They're stealing our intellectual property, our patents, our designs, our technology, hacking into our computers, counterfeiting our goods," he thundered, reiterating his pledge to declare China a currency manipulator on his first day in office, opening the way for trade sanctions.
In all, however, in a foreign policy debate lasting more than an hour and a half, the rival candidates spent just six and a half minutes discussing China, the world's second largest economy, the biggest exporter of goods to the US, and America's largest international creditor.