A nasty spat has erupted between Washington and Beijing over the Obama administration's arms sales to Taiwan. As soon as the US made the official announcement of the US$6.4 billion package last Friday, Beijing responded with both harsh words and retaliatory measures. Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei called in US Ambassador Jon Huntsman for a dressing down. Beijing also suspended scheduled military exchange programmes and threatened to impose sanctions against any American company involved in the production or distribution of weapons destined for Taiwan.
The conventional wisdom in the United States is that this episode is no big deal. Those who take a relaxed view contend that China's reaction is in line with its response to previous arms sales. The new brouhaha, the reasoning goes, will subside and relations will soon return to normal.
Perhaps. But the arms sale showdown is just the latest in a series of incidents stoking tensions between China and the US. Those tensions encompass economic, diplomatic and security disputes.
Even before the Obama administration took office, US officials complained about a variety of practices that they believed gave China an unfair advantage in the global economic arena. Those ranged from an undervalued currency to import dumping and arbitrary exclusion of American products from China's domestic market. President Barack Obama's decision to impose punitive tariffs on imported Chinese tyres last summer was a signal that US patience was wearing thin.
The annoyance is not confined to trade matters. Washington has long prodded Beijing to take a firmer stance against the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes, and especially show a willingness to back more robust economic sanctions against those two countries.
Administration leaders hoped that the summit meetings with President Hu Jintao during Obama's visit to China would lead to progress on Washington's grievances. That did not happen. Not only did Chinese leaders largely rebuff the president's requests for policy changes, there was a widespread perception in the US that the Chinese treated Obama with a dismissive attitude that bordered on disdain.
That treatment created a propaganda bonanza for Obama's domestic political opponents. Critics excoriated him for 'kowtowing' to the Chinese and argued that the China summit confirmed that Obama is a diplomatic lightweight who is incapable of defending important American interests. Most telling, his staunch defenders were few and far between regarding his performance in Beijing.