The real danger behind US currency manipulation charges against China

THE Chinese government doesn’t generally get – or deserve – much sympathy, but you almost have to feel for Beijing on this one.

Last Monday, Chinese policymakers briefly stopped manipulating the exchange rate of the yuan, and within 24 hours the United States had turned around and formally designated them currency manipulators – a designation Beijing has long been anxious to avoid, and that Washington has long withheld from making.