With Google pulling out of China and US senators urging the White House to exert pressure for a renminbi revaluation, friction between the world's great powers seems depressingly normal. Sadly the reality is even worse.

The mutual dependence of America and China is grounded in commercial ties, and the two sides will be doing business for decades to come. But a new conflict is unfolding that could be more dangerous even than the cold war. Soviet economic decisions had little impact on western standards of living. But today, globalisation means there is no equivalent to the Berlin Wall. Nothing can insulate China and America from each other's turmoil.

The list of irritants in US-Chinese relations reaches beyond the current rows over Google and the renminbi, to include broader cyberattacks, disagreements over Iranian sanctions, China's failure to protect intellectual property, and trade disputes over tyres and steel pipes. There are other nascent conflicts, too – from control of natural resources to the militarisation of the Indian Ocean.