There has been a lot of doom and gloom about the Chinese role in the world economy, especially about China's propensity to record large trade surpluses and its alleged refusal to espouse a policy of raising the value of the renminbi and boosting domestic demand. This has been criticised as holding back the development of the world economy.

To heap all the blame on to China for world payment imbalances is unfair, and counter-productive. The Americans – particularly the politicians in Congress over whom the administration in Washington does not have a much control – are behaving somewhat childishly over this important question. What we have seen lately, in the American campaign to have the Chinese labelled as “manipulators” of the currency, is the politics of the school playground rather than of the superpower. Adopting the politics of name-calling and finger-pointing does not seem the right way of resolving this dispute and indeed may hamper opportunities of reaching a settlement.

Over time China will move to a more flexible policy for the renminbi exchange rate that will allow the Chinese monetary authorities to enjoy greater autonomy over monetary policy at home. But this will be at a time of China's own choosing, rather than in a manner and on a timetable set by foreign politicians.