Opinion | China, Japan, America (Published 2010)

Last week Japan’s minister of finance declared that he and his colleagues wanted a discussion with China about the latter’s purchases of Japanese bonds, to “examine its intention” � diplomat-speak for “Stop it right now.” The news made me want to bang my head against the wall in frustration. You see, senior American policy figures have repeatedly balked at doing anything about Chinese currency man

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One answer, as I’ve already suggested, is fear of what would happen if the Chinese stopped buying American bonds. But this fear is completely misplaced: in a world awash with excess savings, we don’t need China’s money — especially because the Federal Reserve could and should buy up any bond