U.S. candidates pass over tough China questions in final debate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney vowed on Monday to get tough on China's trade policies, but they mostly used the Asian giant as a foil to air competing domestic economic programs in their final debate before the November 6 election.

In a showdown that was supposed to be limited to foreign policy, both men focused on the economic aspects of the complex U.S.-China relationship, touching only briefly on the security challenge that fast-rising China poses to a U.S.-led alliance system in Asia.